Chaos is the Prize
by Nemris
Summary: Before the great war, Terra was the mightiest of the kingdoms of Remnant. Some say it was just a casualty of the war, but there is so much more to it than most people know. In its ruins, the Ruinous Powers and the remnants of Terra's Legions lurk and plot, craving to be mighty once more. Now some of the Legionnaires have found their way into the Beacon Academy.
1. Chapter 1

**I am only going to say this once: I don't own RWBY or Warhammer 40k. Shocking, I know.**

 **This story was born of an idea what would happen if Chaos Space Marines attended Beacon academy. Yeah I know, kinda ridiculous scenario. That Idea would never fly like that. So I did some deep thinking. How would I make it happen? It think I found a quite enjoyable solution. This story tells about my RWBY-fyed versions of Adeptus Astartes. I call them Adeptus Venatores.**

 **Many crossovers have a character/s from their universe somehow transported to another one. This is not that type of crossover. I have, to say it simply, taken 40k stuff and merged into RWBY world. It is the RWBY world with 40k stuff thrown in. The 40k universe does not exist in this story. Many things from 40k don't exist, others do, and some have been altered to suit better. There is no bigger galaxy outside of Remnant, there are no Aliens (at least in a same sense) or many other 40k things. But as you might have guessed from the name of this fic, Chaos is very much there. There was once an Emperor, he ruled Terra, he did have 20 sons, and they had a bit of a breakdown. This story also has some alternate Heresy in it. Darker than RWBY, not as dark as 40k with humor as a flavor.**

 **If you are not well versed in 40k lore, you could just read this as an OC centric RWBY story that has some elaborate and strange things in it.**

 **Big thanks to my beta reader** **Enuncia, without whom this story might never have been written.**

 **The following story contains cursing, heresy, twisted morals, bad manners, unnecessary violence, necessary violence, hilarity and Chaos, among other things.**

* * *

 **Chaos is the Prize Chapter 1**

A dog could be heard barking in the night and its voice echoed lonely from the walls of the nearby buildings, sounding much louder against the silence. That was rare. It was rare to hear any sounds made by animals in this part of the city. The sound had a certain calming quality to it. It had such a different tone to that of a beowolf.

A cool night air flowed through the opened window as Nox placed the left hand piece of the Dike Talon on the table in front of him. The sizable, recently maintained and cleaned long clawed gauntlet reflected the sparse lighting of the room. It gleamed like is was just out of the workshop. Nox looked at its sharp blades that worked like fingers, before he picked up the almost perfect mirror pair of the weapon from the table. The only difference between the two talon gauntlets was the hole in the palm of the right hand one, where the weapon would channel dust from.

He sat by a table, opposite to the window where the view opened to the nightly city of Vale. He leaned back with his chair, his _legs_ on the table and started to dismantle the other half of his dual weapons. A small lamp on the table provided illumination for him to work.

He did this almost every night, partly because the ancient and many times passed on weapon simply required good care taking to remain functional after all these years, partly because he had little else to do. One got much of time in the one's hands when one did not spent the nights the same way other people did.

He took one of the sharp silvery finger components and looked at it against the shattered moon's light coming from the window. He raised a piece of wet cloth and started rubbing the piece of metal. He took his time cleaning the part of his weapon. He had time.

Speaking of time... He turned his head and looked over his shoulder. The small apartment behind him was sparsely decorated and impersonal, as was common for a temporary residence. The clock on the wall showed it was almost two hours past midnight.

Sangur should have been back already. Though he was not famous from his time keeping abilities. Sometimes he would return to their shared apartment hours early, sometimes again Nox would not see him until the evening of the day after. But it did not really matter to Nox how long Sangur's little blood spilling voyages took. He would be back when he would be back and Nox was not going to babysit him about the time he comes home.

Nox organized the dust capsules his weapon used on the table. Most of them were empty and in a need of refilling. Fortunately, soon Nox would not have to bother using dishonest methods to secure more dust. Beacon Academy would take care of that once he started the semester.

Nox was not sure how to feel about the academy and his soon to begin time in there. He had thought about it often lately, ever since his and Sangur's deal with the headmaster of the huntsman school. He was not hyped about it, but on the other hand he did not really have anything else to do either. The school would take care of many of his problems, but on the other hand it would place restrictions upon him like never before in his life. He and Sangur would have to be more on their toes in the future because now they would be under watch more or less constantly. And if they happened to stray from the narrow path, their situations would become really uncomfortable in a record time. They would have to cover things up well if they slipped. Nox would have to try to make sure Sangur stayed on a leash, but he was not sure that he was up to the task.

He paused for a moment and watched out of the window. He knew he was looking in the direction of the academy, but it was concealed by the darkness and the distance.

A _huntsman_. His mouth twitched a little, unsure whether to smile mockingly or frown in disgust. He disliked the name. And soon he would be considered as one. He would be associated with all the others who were huntsmen or huntresses. He did not like it but there was nothing to be done about it. Ozpin had taken something as an assurance from Nox, and if Nox wanted to ever see it again, he would have to follow the headmaster's terms. Was it really different from anything in the past? There was nothing new about fighting the Grimm. If things got too intolerable, he and Sangur could just say "F it" and hit the road. Like they had done with Terra. That was what they would more or less do anyway when they graduated if not before. If they took their leave early, it would unfortunately mean losing the Nox's treasure Ozpin held in his possession, but there was a limit for what Nox was willing to endure. The leader of the hunter academy could not force Nox to became a hunter. Nox had no desire in the slightest to fight and die for the people of the kingdoms, or anyone really.

That was the a thing that Nox had realized soon after he had left the ruins of Terra behind. There were hell of lot of things he did not want to do, but he had nothing that he really wanted to do. Except maybe go around scaring little children from time to time.

He was just about to detach the dust activation piston from his weapon when he heard the door open and then slammed back shut. Nox did not bother to stop the maintenance of his weapon. He heard heavy steps walk behind him across the room. He also heard when something heavy and metallic was hurled aside. Nox did not say a word as Sangur opened another door and left the main room of the apartment.

After a few more moments, Nox took a pause and turned his head. Sangur's Skalathrax was thrown on a shelf in the corner of the room. The crimson dual chainaxes were a bit dirty and showed signs of recent use. Nox could smell the dirt and the odor of the old weapon's engine's exhaust fumes. But there was no stench of blood, nor were the teeth of the weapons coated red. This time. Tonight they had shredded the bodies of the soulless one, and the flesh and gore of the creatures of Grimm disintegrated soon after death, and so the weapons were clean.

It looked like Sangur had managed not to involve humans in his bloodletting. It was good that it was so. Not because Nox cared about who Sangur slayed in his red frenzy, but because the deal would be off if Ozpin found out. And Nox did not like how the headmaster seemed to be awfully well aware of their doings. Vale was not like Vacuo. It was harder to get away with lot of things here then it was in the other Kingdom. The officials of Vale were much more attentive, and Sangur was not really the type who covered his tracks well or cleaned up his own mess.

Nox heard Sangur return from the other room, but still did not turn to look. He continued handling his weapon as he said "Did you have any problems?"

"No," Sangur grunted shortly. "I am going to sleep."

"You do that. I keep my eyes wide open," Nox replied as he started cleaning the chamber of his weapon where the dust capsules went.

Sangur left the room, leaving Nox to his devices. Nox was jealous of Sangur and his sleep. He was tired like he had stayed up for a week, which he almost had, but he could not do like Sangur and withdraw to a peaceful slumber.

He wanted to do it, but he could not, not yet. Not this night. He would have to wait.

Nox kept on treating his weapon, like he done thousands of times before. He stripped it down to its barest components, cleaned every part multiple times, before putting it all back together. Then he kept on cleaning the assembled weapon until it could not have been any more pristine. He pulled it onto his hand and tested that it worked without a hitch. As he flexed his fingers, and the sharp claws gleamed like they were made of pure silver.

A lone fly flew through the open window, the sound of its wings dominating otherwise completely silent room. The insect started to buzz around the lamp, lured in by its modest light. Nox observed it as he carefully took a dust capsule from the table. He clicked open the chamber slot of the weapon in his right hand, slipped the capsule in and encased it. After that he reached out with his talons, the hole in the palm part of the weapon upwards. There was an audible unrefined click as a piston inside the weapon ignited the dust in way that more modern weapons never would have. A small, well contained blue spark of electricity appeared from the dust channeling outlet, engulfing the bladed fingers in dancing sapphire lightnings. The power of the dust was channeled on a minimal capacity, so the weak strands of electricity did not even compete with the illumination of the lamp.

Nox suddenly slashed with his weapon, using his semblance to identify the exact location of the tiny bug. It would have been almost impossible to kill it with just the claws, but the blue sparks of The weapon made his hand like a big electrified swatter.

The metal made contact with the fly, scorching the helpless little insect instantly. Because screw the Plague God.

Nox quelled the dust generated mini thunder from his weapon. Then he took it off from his hand and laid the right talon on the table. He picked up the left one and started maintaining it again. He kept on doing this until the first rays of sunlight could be seen on the horizon.

* * *

The Gods were there.

There was no words to describe their magnificence, nor could a mortal mind comprehend their whole essence. There were no greater beings in existence. And the great Pantheon rewarded those who carried out their will.

The Gods were...

Azuhrius opened his eyes. Had he fallen asleep?

He fixed his posture on the gaudy chair that was bolted to the floor and looked around. The cabin of the airship was completely silent. Lights were out, and only weak illumination came from a small circular window on his left that showed the starry night sky and the dark sea extending endlessly on the horizon.

Opposite of him, on the other side of the table between them, Kaltrina sat on a similar chair, manipulating the scroll in her hands. Her black and aquamarine racer jacket was placed on the back of her chair, and the black shirt she was wearing had no sleeves. The green Hydra was clearly visible on her right shoulder, an identical tattoo to what Azuhurius also had on his shoulder under his clothes.

He reached out with his hand for his own scroll that was on the table, shoving off the blanket in his lap in the process. Kaltrina must have draped it over him after he had fallen asleep.

He picked up his scroll from the table and checked the time. There was still over an hour before they would arrive to Vale. Airships sure were fast. Azuhrius did not want to even think about how much time it would have taken for them to travel from Vacuo to Vale, if he had not been able to _acquire_ a conveyance from this ship.

His movements drew Kaltrina's attention from her scroll to him.

"Did you have nice dreams?" she asked with a gentle smile.

Azuhrius looked at her. "Yes... No... I am not certain, actually."

"What did you dream of?" she asked curiously.

He thought about it for a while. He had something in his mind, a vague feeling of what he had dreamed about, but he could not recall anything solid. "I... I am not sure," he replied. His eyes remained unfocused for a while as he fought to combine the pieces of the dream that were slipping away from him. But the dream was gone, he was awake now and such things mattered little anyway.

There was a small portable chess set on the table next to his scroll. He had played a match against Kaltrina some hours ago, shortly after airship started its journey. Unfortunately Kaltrina was not very good at playing chess. She had tried studying the game, had stubbornly tried to improve her skills, but she just did not possess the right mindset for it. She was no match for him. Azuhrius had stopped asking a long time ago for her to play with him, and when they did play, it was from Kaltrina's initiation.

Azuhrius liked playing chess. It was the only place where he would wage fair war against an opponent. Both players had the same pieces and almost mirrored starting positions at the beginning of the game. Chess was a perfectly balanced game. Victory went to the player with the sharper mind, to the one who would be able to play turns ahead better than their opponent. And in this Azuhrius excelled.

One must always think about the long term. In chess, and in war. That was the way of the XXth. But unlike in chess, a war should be fought as unfairly as possible.

"Want to play again?" Kaltrina said hopefully, as she saw his gaze linger on the chess set.

"No, not right now." He had no need for another easy win. "Some other time."

He checked the corners of the room with his eyes, confirming that the two of them were the only ones in the room.

"Where is Orchid?" he asked returning his gaze to her.

"He went out some time ago. I guess he wanted to look around the ship," she replied.

Azuhrius sighed lightly.

"You did not tell him to stay in here with us for the journey," Kaltrina reminded him.

"Just because I don't forbid him of doing something does not mean it is okay to do it."

It did not really matter. Orchid would just blend in with rest of the passengers, and as long as he did not pull attention to himself, nobody would probably check for his ticked and discover he was free traveling. On the other hand, Orchid was not the most subtle of the individuals. Azuhrius would have preferred if he had stayed with them.

"I will probably have to talk to him about things like rules and restriction. Again. Just to make sure he understands."

He knew Orchid was capable of doing something like going undercover. If he had not been, Azuhrius would not have included him in this. You just could never be sure with anything with Orchid, and Azuhrius did not like when he was not able to be sure with something. He could guide Orchid and contain him rather well. It was not that difficult, when he had the right methods and tools. But he did not even remotely have full control over the _eccentric_ guy. He would just have to try his best, and put some trust in Orchid.

"I wonder if it would help him if we wrote down some basic rules," Kaltrina suggested.

Azuhrius gazed at the ceiling thoughtfully.

"He might be able to follow them better, if he just had them written up somewhere where he could check anytime," she continued. "Like an "Absolutely Don't"- memo. Things like ' _Don't kill anyone unless Azuhrius tells you to_ '. You know, the basics," she elaborated.

"That is actually very good idea," Azuhrius mused.

"I will start making the first draft immediately!" Kaltrina said enthusiastically, fingers already flying over her scroll.

"No, you don't have to start now," he said while watching the door. "Do you have any idea where he might be?"

Kaltrina lowered the hand held smart device. "No I don't. Do you want me to go look for him?"

"Yes, I think that would be the best. We are closing in on Vale, and we must be ready to take our leave as soon as we enter the city's airspace."

"As you wish," Kaltrina said, and stood up from her seat. The door of the room closed behind her, leaving Azuhrius alone to think about scheming and stuff.

* * *

It took over half an hour for Kaltrina to find Orchid. At first she had searched near the engine room of the airship, because she deducted it would be the noisiest place on the vessel. And Orchid loved loud noises. However the walls of the engineering deck proved to be quite soundproof, and since the lock of the door to the area was not busted, Kaltrina concluded that he must be somewhere else.

She finally found him from quite unexpected location: one of the small storage rooms of the ship. There he was, just sitting on the floor between locked lockers that held belongings of the passengers that were on board the ship legally.

"You could have said where you were going before you left," Kaltrina said with a tone that was strict enough that it shoved her disapproval, but not enough to offend Orchid, or at least she hoped so. Azuhrius had ordered her not to be too lax with Orchid, as he had to be kept in check. She did not know Orchid that well, but some of his cousins back at Terra were easy to get set off by a tiniest sign of disrespect, so she exercised some caution when dealing with him. It was really unlikely that Orchid would actually do something to her, as she was an important part of Hydra Network and Azuhrius had very, very strictly prohibited Orchid from laying a hand on her or any woman during their mission. But like Azuhrius often said, you could never be sure with Orchid.

He slowly and unhurriedly shifted his gaze from the small window of the room to her. His eyes focused on her after an inappropriately long moment.

His eyes always unnerved her. They were the color of strident pink, glaring out almost like a neon lights. But they were dim and without spirit, like something was clouding them. Like seriously, they looked so unnatural that somebody might actually question Orchids eyesight.

But Kaltrina preferred them that way. She had seen those eyes unshrouded.

"It is not like I knew where I would end up when I left," he replied after a lengthy pause. He really looked like a drug addict just laying there with poor posture and foggy expression. Oh wait, he was just that. Most certainly biggest drug addict on the planet.

"Have you taken doses again? I mean, more than normal?" Kaltrina said with a hint of irritation in her voice.

"It is not like there is anything else to do on this ship. Azuhrius said not to cause commotion. They did not even let me into the engine room."

"You tried to get in?"

"They said it was off limits for passenger."

Kaltrina massaged the bridge of her nose. At least he did not force his way in. "So then you just went and decided to fill your veins with even more of gods knows what and hang out in a storage room. While we are just about to arrive and need to get off this ship soon," she stated. "Fortunately we are not dealing with anything too timing sensitive."

"You scions of XXth and your discipline," Orchid huffed.

"Discipline leads to victory," Kaltrina cited coldly. "you should try it some time."

"Not really my thing," Orchid said as he pulled a small metal cylinder from his pocket. Without further hesitation he pressed it against his neck, and there was a faint hiss as the contents were injected into his body.

Kaltrina sighed as he turned towards the door. "Have you ever been clear? Ever?"

"Yes, the first few years of my life...," Orchic replied sluggishly. "And they were total hell..."

"Well get yourself together. We are about to get off this ship. Come on, Azuhrius is waiting."

Orchid rose from the floor with perfect coordination, which was an amazing feat considering how much drugs there probably were in his system. It would have been impossible for any other individual in a same situation, if they would not have been already dead from poisoning. This reminded Kaltrina that drugs just not were the same thing to Orchid as they were for other people. She should really stop talking to him about them like he was normal human being.

"Let's go," she said as she stepped out of the storage, Orchid few steps behind.

* * *

The night air rushed to meet them as Azuhrius opened the pressure sealed door of the airships outer hull. It was still dark, but the first rays of lights could be seen on the horizon, soon to be shining on the nightly city of Vale below them.

Orchid stepped on to the metal of the long passage that ran along the side of the airship exposed to the elements. Azuhrius and Kaltrina were standing by the safety rail at the end of the passage, and Orchid joined them to grab support against the air current of the still moving airship. Behind him, the hatch closed automatically, as the emergency opening was overridden by the system's protocol that dictated that all hatches must be closed during the flight. The Ship had reached the Kingdom, so it did not move as fast because it was preparing to land, but still a strong gust of wind might cause a careless person to lose their foothold.

Azuhrius was peeking over the rail at the city below. "This is good enough. Gear up, we are dropping out here." Azuhrius pulled out Stalker from behind his back, and started fiddling with the under slung grappling hook of the bulky metal gray gun. Beside him, Kaltrina was pulling on a climbing vest and attaching wires.

"We are just going to jump?" Orchid asked glancing over the rail. They were still pretty high.

"As I explained during the mission briefing," Azuhrius replied.

"So... did you hand out parachutes at some point?"

"We are too low for them to be any use. You are using you own landing strategy. I asked you if you required wiring during the briefing, and you said there was no need," Azuhrius said as he attached the bindings of a vest same kind as Kaltrina's. Now that he mentioned it, Orchid did remember something like that from the boring mission talk that Azuhrius had held.

When Azuhrius was done with his vest, he gave Kaltrina a small nod and she immediately connected the wires of her vest with those of Azuhrius'. She Tightened them so that she was tied against him closely and safely. Azuhrius would have been okay without the vest, but Kaltrina was not an Aura user and required some assistance with landing safely.

"My own landing strategy..." Orchid said glancing again briefly into the depths. Yep, they were still high.

"So we are ready to go?" Azuhrius asked. Orchid looked at him and Kaltrina tied against him. She was manipulating a strand of her jaw length blue hair with her hand, that she had colored just because Azuhrius liked blue. She had a straight face, but Orchid could see her laughing behind her eyes. She must have really enjoyed the situation all around.

"Yeah..." Orchid replied.

With that Azuhrius stepped against the railing with Kaltrina still tied to him, shot the Stalker's grappling hook into the deck and hurled them both over it. Orchid had just the briefest glimpse of the falling pair before the wind took them with it.

Orchid jumped after them couple of seconds later, cursing silently.

* * *

 **So, what do you think? Does this seem like it will be a good RWBYhammer40k story? I tell you, I have big plans for this.**

 **I will have a list of all the OC characters of this story in my profile so that it is easier to keep up with all of them.**

 **If you have no idea what is going on in this story, feel free to ask me.**

 **Again, big thanks to Enuncia. If you have not already, you should check out his wonderful RWBY story: Bunny and the Bully (I would recommend reading it before this story for reasons). Don't forget to leave review for him from being awesome and writing awesome stuff.**

 **Also leave a review for me, if you feel it in your heart.**


	2. Chapter 2

**If you are reading this, it means you wonderful person who has reached the second chapter of this story. Congratulations for that feat.**

 **Also, the cover and profile picture systems of this site are messing with me. Don't mind if the pictures are in flux. It is just the Warp showing its favor in mysterious ways.**

* * *

 **Chaos is the Prize Chapter 2**

Azuhrius sat on a seat of the airship's observation deck, handling his scroll. Orchid sat next to him, head thrown back and arms wide, looking like he had passed out. Wait a minute, he _was_ actually passed out, now that Azuhrius looked more closely. Must be the exposure of having so many females in the same space, he thought.

The two of them were the only ones on the deck that were sitting. All the other new beacon students seemed more or less too nervous to sit down. Even Azuhrius had to admit he felt a small amount of tension.

The bunch of youths around them were really varying fold. There were people who certainly looked seasoned fighters. Others... less so. His gaze stopped for a moment on a boy who was leaning against the wall for support and looked really nauseous. The clothing of many people also baffled Azuhrius slightly. He had always thought that Orchid dressed little too flagrantly, but he fit right into the crowd with the other students. It was Azuhrius who in fact stood out more of the two of them. Azuhrius did not like that at all. When it was told to them that they should arrive in their combat gear, Azuhrius had of course complied. But many of the young boys and girls around him were dressed in really... casually looking clothes. There were of course students that wore what Azuhrius considered combat gear like breastplates and things like that, but those consisted mostly of the minority of boys. Almost all the girls looked like they wearing their favorite or best looking clothes, and least half of the girls wore skirts.

" _Combat skirts_ ," Orchid had said instantly like it was normal, when Azuhrius had first mentioned it at the airship dock in Vale. Azuhrius thought that out of all the guys at Terra, he himself was most in contact with the outside world, but now that thought was faltering.

" _You should go out more often,"_ he heard Kaltrina's long ago said words, that he had scoffed off as nonsense, echo in his mind.

He returned his attention to the scroll in his hand. On the screen was incomplete list of all students that were going to enroll to the Academy this year. He had started collecting all the information of the students he could get well in advance, and now that the day had finally come, he had at least names of almost everybody. Information about some of the students was more difficult to find than others. Pyrrha Nikos was one of the students Azuhrius had most info of (she was famous after all), where as of people like Ciera Marsus and Blake Belladonna Azuhrius had nothing more than a name. And he had only acquired their names when he had stolen the passenger list of the ship they were on right now. He hoped that he would have an opportunity to gather more data before the Initiation.

A holographic view screen opposite of Azuhrius that had displayed a news broadcast suddenly disappeared and was replaced by projection of a blond woman with glasses. He knew who she was.

" _Hello and welcome to beacon."_

"Who's that?" a girl with a wild blond hair asked.

" _My name Glynda Goodwitch_ ," the girl received an answer.

Azuhrius listened as the teacher talked briefly about Beacon and why they were there.

" _-and now it is our turn to provide you the knowledge and the training to protect our world_."

Azuhrius smirked just so slightly as the hologram disappeared.

People were looking out of the windows. Some were looking at the view that their high altitude offered to the city, others were peering at the Academy that was apparently really close now.

Azuhrius closed the list and folded his scroll. He nudged Orchid next to him. It took less than a second for Orchid to surface from the depths of unconsciousness and open his eyes. He jerked from his slack position and looked at his comrade.

"Were are about to land."

"Good. For a moment I thought we would have to jump off again."

"As soon as we get out, I want you to run and follow me," Azuhrius said. "I want to be at the meeting place before anyone else. It will be faster if we don't follow the main road and just take a shortcut through the right side." he showed Orchid a barely palm sized map of the Academy. He drew a line with his finger to show the shortcut they would take.

"Why do you want to be there before anyone else?" Orchid asked slightly bewildered.

They rose from their seat and started heading for the exit, while the nauseous blond caused a small scene behind them.

"It is all to secure suitable teammates," Azuhrius replied.

"Can they be girls?" Orchid asked hopefully.

"I will take your wishes into consideration," he said smoothly, as if he really would.

* * *

"Hey Nox..."

"Yeah?"

"Have you ever wondered why we're here?"

He turned to look at Sangur. Nox was sitting in a shadow cast by one of the arches around the main entrance of the Beacon Academy, hiding from his mortal enemy: the sun.

For a couple of seconds Nox just looked at Sangur who was leaning against the arch that sheltered Nox from the cursed electromagnetic radiation. Then he opened his mouth to respond. "The fuck are you talking about? Ever? We have been here, like, two hours."

"I mean why are we out here... when we could be in the... thick of slaughter." Sangur's eyes flared momentarily as he seemed to lose the thought behind his words at the middle of his sentence.

Nox sighed, not even bothering to be annoyed. The lack of blood spilling was seemingly starting to affect Sangur. That and maybe the ever damned sunlight, Nox was sure of it. He hoped that the initiation would start soon. Sangur had not fulfilled his violent urges in over a week now, and if he would not be provided some Grimm soon, he might take it out on whoever was closest. And that would render their time at this school over before it even truly begun.

"Calm down. Just be patient for a little longer. There will be some big, strong and mean xenos for you to slay at the initiation, much better than what you have been restricted to recently. Just you wait," Nox lied. He had no idea what the initiation would like, except that there would be some kind of testing of fighting prowess. It was logical for a Hunter Academy to make the new students fight against creatures of Grimm as a initiation, or at least Nox hoped so.

"Yes. Soon." The glint in Sangur's eyes calmed down. "But why could we not just go do that right now anyway? I am sure the cane man would not mind if we just quickly-"

"No, Sangur. No. The new students are arriving any moment now and we must join them for all the formal shit. I have made the arrangements with the headmaster, you have your free weekends to go butcher things in Forever Fall, so for fuck sake just try to hold out right now."

Sangur huddled against the arc in disappointment. "I don't like this. I wish we could just do what we have always done."

"Welcome to a world of new solutions." Nox felt so damn vexed to say those words, but he had no really choice now that they had come here. He could totally understand how chained Sangur felt. He felt it too, and it annoyed him beyond measure. But this place required some additional discipline, and they would have to stay in check. Nox did not want to have another meeting with Ironwood.

"I think that might be them," Sangur said looking into the horizon.

Nox turned to look, and there certainly was airships approaching the Academy. After few more moments, one of the bigger airships pulled next to the big landing platform at the end of the cliff.

"I wonder what the deal is with that many ships," Nox said as one of the bullheads flied over them. "The students are coming on board the big ships, but why the hell do they need such an escort for a trip that short? Why do they need one in the first place?"

"Maybe there are some threatening or unstable new students on board," Sangur grunted, rising to stand against the arc.

"Nah, we are already here," Nox said as he got up too, just as the landed airship opened its side hatch, revealing a hurried blond haired boy who proceeded to vomit in a conveniently placed trash bin.

The students started to flow from the ship towards the academy. They were quite a varying bunch.

"They don't look like warriors to me," Sangur said as he and Nox leaned against the stone arch. They were in a position that the new students did not see them unless they turned to look behind them, but the two of them could watch after them as they passed by.

"Of course not. They are a bunch of feeble and dewy-eyed prats," Nox replied. He could not believe he would have to spent few next years with people like these. But maybe there was still some hope. Maybe they were not as big twats as they looked like.

"Hey, that one looks like a warrior," Sangur said, genuinely surprising Nox with the words.

He leaned so that he could see who Sangur was talking about. "Which one?"

Sangur nodded in the direction "The one with the round shield"

Nox looked and spotted the girl. Nox puffed a little by himself. He was sure that the red and bronze had nothing to do with Sangur's opinion.

"If you say so," he just said.

* * *

"I promise I make this up to you!" Ruby yelled after the white haired heiress.

The girl in white did nothing to imply she heard her and just continued to trample away along the big road.

Ruby sighed sadly and looked at the ground. "Guess I am not only one having a rough first day." She turned to the other girl she had just met. "So, what's..." She saw the black haired girl walking slowly away from her. She felt like like she could collapse just then and there. Could the situation get any worse.

Well, turned out it could! The storage case the heiress had taken from her apparently did not get closed properly, and as the men who Ruby assumed worked for Schnee started to collected the mess of luggage, the case opened and let some of its content fall out. Most of the bottles that spread out fortunately did not cause anything... except one containing bright orange dust. The bottle hit the ground, causing the cap to almost come of. Then the dust inside flashed dangerously.

Next thing Ruby knew the cap was disintegrated as the hole of the bottle flared up, shooting the container down the road like a firework. It zigzagged and shined brightly, but started fortunately soon lose its momentum.

Then it hit somebody in the head. Ruby could hear the clang all the way where she was standing.

The boy had just emerged behind one of the stone arcs around the Academy entrance, and had just at the wrong moment stepped into the path of the accidental missile.

Ruby held both of her hands in front of her open mouth and was peeking through her fingers. She was horrified. This can't be happening. Why was the world so cruel.

The boy who had been hit by the firework-bottle crossed the distance between him and Ruby extraordinary fast even though he was not running. Ruby was just about to break down from the panic when he finally stopped the in front of her.

"Is this yours?" he asked with a low but so threat filled voice that Ruby might have started cry if she had not been petrified by the horrendous situation. He was holding in his outreached hand the bottle that was now empty and seemed to smoke just a little

"I..." Ruby tried to speak. "It is... No it is not my... But it was... Kinda my fault...I am so sorry," she whimpered.

The Boy was not that tall. He was pretty much same height as Yang, and Ruby's sister had, as a matter of fact, more imposing character thanks to her hair.

The boy's hair was black. But not as black as his eyes that Ruby could at that moment swear were the darkest black the she had ever seen. She could not separate between the iris and the pupil. The dark hair and eyes were a stark contrast to his unbelievably pale skin that was almost the same color as the recently departed heiress' hair.

He was wearing midnight blue hoodie of a kind and a black pants. He had gray shoulder pads with dim bronze trim. What was the most noticeable thing about him was his legs though. At first, Ruby thought that he was wearing armored leg guards and boots, but then he realized he was not wearing anything like that. His legs were metallic below the knees. His shins were covered by dark blue armor plate, and instead of legs and toes he had gunmetal gray talons that looked like that of a bird of prey.

The expression on his face made Ruby want to pull down her hood and vanish. The face was stern but the dark eyes radiated anger.

As Ruby trembled slightly, she noticed that boy was not alone. Standing just behind was another, over a head taller boy. He seemed to be a friend of the boy hit by the bottle.

His hair was dark brown and his dark red eyes spectated Ruby and the other boy with an expression like he was waiting a fight to break out... and was eager to see it happen.

His brown shirt was mostly covered by a hulking red breastplate. His left hand was bare and showed a toned, maybe even muscular hand, whereas his right hand was totally covered by shining bronze plate armor. He, fortunately, had just normal legs covered by blue pants and black combat boots at his feet.

"That was actually my fault," one of the Schnee servants said cautiously as he stepped next to Ruby. He was little nervous as he held his hands up in conciliation, and Ruby was glad he had stepped to help her. "I was handling the case too carelessly. It was my fault and I truly apologize."

"No, I am also at blame here," said Ruby quickly as she waved her hands. She felt is was not right for the man to take all the blame.

The pale boy squeezed the bottle in his hand as his eyes shifted between Ruby and the servant. Ruby did not like looking into those black eyes. They were so full of hate. Ruby did not believe she had ever seen eyes so full of hate and contempt. She truly believed at that moment that the boy wanted to hurt her. He wanted to let his anger out on the girl before her. But the feelings were caged somehow, like the boy had fought to keep himself in check because he knew he was not allowed to.

A moment passed and the boys eyes finally fixed on Ruby. "You have..." He said with a low voice that was not as threatening as it had been a moment ago. "Silver eyes," he finished as if Ruby's eye color had some meaning to him. "...I hate them."

Then he threw the bottle into the servant's arms rather hard and the man was set back a step as it impacted his chest and he reached to grab it. "Keep a better care of your junk," the pale boy said, turned and started to walk away.

The servant said a short apology to Ruby as well and then returned to his colleagues to help with the other cases.

That left Ruby alone with the tall, armor wearing boy who had been with the pale boy. He was just standing there, where he had remained through the whole scene. His face no longer looked like he was anticipating a violent melee.

"Hey," Ruby said awkwardly, not knowing what else to do.

The boy just stared before saying "You are wearing red. That is good." And then he just turned and followed after the pale boy.

As the boy's back got more and more further away, like too many backs that day, Ruby just could not take it anymore. Her legs gave away and she collapsed to lay on the road. "Welcome to beacon..." she said quietly to herself before he closed her eyes.

Then he heard steps as a pair of legs stopped next to her and a shadow was cast over her close eyes. She opened her lids to see a somewhat familiar blond boy standing next to her and offering his hand. "Hey. I'm Jaune," he said.

"Ruby," she replied as she took his hand.

* * *

"Oliver Magnolio," Azuhrius said quietly to himself as the said person walked it to the building that was the meeting place for all the new students. The girl that walked couple of steps behind Oliver Azuhrius was not able to connect to a name, so he quickly raised his scroll and snapped a picture. He saved the picture for later processing and moved to the next person to come in.

Almost all the new students had already arrived. Azuhrius and Orchid had been the first ones there, and therefore Azuhrius had managed to observe every new individual that stepped inside. Every Time when a person he was able to identify walked in, he marked that person as present in his scroll. He also recorded everyone he did not have previous data on, or those he could not link with a name. Sometimes he could deduce the identity of someone based on who they were accompanied with, as some of them were old friends from combat school or had some other previous connection.

Only few names on the list had yet to arrive, and Azuhrius had counted 6 individuals that were definitely missing from the list, and he would have to find out who they were soon.

Things were going rather nicely so far, even if they had only just arrived. Azuhrius was quite pleased and he allowed himself a little smirk.

Then two boys walked in who made the smirk on his face disappear faster than a sense of hygiene of someone worshipping the Plague Lord. He had to stop himself from cursing out loud.

The appearances of the boys practically screamed out their identity to Azuhrius. The shorter one, wearing midnight clad and skin pale as only possible to the progeny of the VIIIth. The other one was wearing blood red and bronze, and he even had the mark of the Blood God on his breast plate. This one was of the XIIth.

They were like him. Like Azuhrius himself. They were from Terra.

"Orchid..." Azuhrius almost whispered as he tried to think how the hell was it possible for the that pair to be here, in the Beacon Academy. "I want you to listen to me. Listen to me very carefully and you absolutely must remain calm after hearing what I have to say. Is that understood? Whatever it is I am going to say to you now, you must not do anything radical or foolish."

"When have I ever done something like that?" Orchid answered lazily as he was leaning against one of the walls. "Just tell me. No need to fuss about, whatever it is."

Azuhrius swallowed before continuing. "Adaptus Venatores. Two of them just walked in. Two of our cousins. One of the VIIIth and on of the XIIth..."

Azuhrius could almost hear it when blood suddenly rushed in Orchid's veins. In a time it took to blink, the relaxed and indifferent feeling of the boy next to him disappeared. It was replaced with tensed muscles and hyperactive vigilance. The mist that had clouded the pink eyes vanished in an instant as Orchid purged the chemicals with sedative effect from his system with an unnatural speed. The eyes were sharp. They hungered, endlessly so. They thirsted for battle.

Orchid's gaze locked to the to boys that Azuhrius had pointed out. His right hand reached for his weapon, and his left hand approached the controls that were hidden in his clothes just by the neck, in intent of releasing "combat stims" (more drugs) into his bloodstream from the storage of his small backpack apparatus. There was a silent hiss and a slightly higher pitch in his voice when he spoke. "A savage brute of the Blood God!" he said with hostility.

Azuhrius could sense what was going on in his companion's head. He could feel the want, the need to rush right in and strike down the follower of the Dark Prince's enemy. Venators from third and twelfth legions were dedicated to opposing powers of the great pantheon, and as so did not get really along. Now Orchid saw a worshipper of a god he hated, and in very strange circumstances. There were not suppose to be any of the XIIth alive, and as so Orchid probably thought this one was some kind of turncoat. A perfect excuse for the him to attack. Azuhrius would have to contain the situation before it escalated out of hand.

"Remember what I said. Remain calm. Do you hear me?" Azuhrius reached out and grabbed Orchid's chin. He forced his head to turn to look Azuhrius in the eyes. "You will do _nothing._ If you do anything stupid now and here, all will be ruined. You. Will. Stand. Down."

Azuhrius did not often talk this way to Orchid, but he could not let Orchid ruin everything. So he had to take firm hold of the situation. He needed to pull the leash. Orchid needed his guidance. "Calm... Down..."

Orchid tried to turn his head, tried to look the other way, but Azuhrius did not let go. Then he stopped resisting and focused on Azuhrius' eyes, completely silent.

Azuhrius could see the conflict in the pink eyes. The urge that tried to break out. "I will find the best way to deal with this," Azuhrius said softly but firmly. "We cannot do as we please here. Remember when we talked about that? We must remain-"

"Subtle..." Orchid finished.

"Exactly..."

Orchid relaxed. He touched his clothes by the neck and the haze returned to his eyes. The tension vanished. No other person on the planet probably could have done what Azuhrius just had done. He would have to hope that he could also do it in the future. He was not too sure he could.

"What do we do?" Orchid asked when a moment had passed.

Azuhrius did not answer immediately. What would they do? This sudden twist had to be dealt with. This posed a danger to the whole infiltration.

But... This might also be good thing. A very good thing, now that Azuhrius thought about it with a clear mind. So good thing and such a coincidence, that Azuhrius wondered if there had been some divine influence from the Architect of Fate. He had thought that there were no mature progeny of the IIIVth or the XIIth alive. He had thought they had all been killed during the last breach. But somehow this pair had survived, and for some reason, chosen to leave Terra behind and let their cousins think they had perished. The Legions were weak, and every asset mattered. Now more than ever. Azuhrius would have to find a way to return these newly rediscovered cousins to the service of Terra.

Azuhrius smirked, moderately widely now. He might have just found some especially suitable teammates.

* * *

 **Things are proceeding rather nicely, don't you think? Now you know what Nox and Sangur look like, and the other two are not too far ahead.**

 **What do you speculate the future will hold? Please tell me, I am curious.**

 **Again, if you have any questions just ask me.**

 **Leave a review to tell me what you think, if you feel it in your heart.**


	3. Chapter 3

**Here is the new chapter for you. If anyone from the Inquisition asks, you did not get this from me.**

* * *

 **Chaos is the Prize Chapter 3**

The principal cleared his throat and the sound amplified by the microphone drew the attention of all the students. The people around Nox and Sangur stopped their chatter as the silver haired man on the half circular podium fixed his glasses and said "I will keep this brief."

 _Because you are lazy and don't really care_ , Nox said inside his mind. He could respect that. Even though he was not the biggest fan of the green suited man with the cane.

"You have traveled here today in search of knowledge-."

 _The fuck I am_ , Nox thought. He was here because the man speaking on the podium had forced him.

"-To hone your craft and to acquire new skills. And when you've finished, you plan to dedicate your life to the protection of the people."

 _And fuck I will. This is some of the greatest bullshit I have ever heard, and I have heard some really mental stuff._

"But I look amongst you, and all I see is wasted energy, in need of purpose, direction." When Ozpin said this, just for a second, he looked in to the direction of Nox and Sangur. Nox felt like the words were directed especially at the two of them.

"You assume knowledge will free you of this, but your time at this school will prove that knowledge will only carry you so far. It is up to you to take the first step."

Ozpin seemed to be done with his short speech and walked away from the microphone. His place was taken by the blond teacher who explained shortly that the new students would gather at the ball room tonight and that the initiation would begin tomorrow.

Glynda Goodwitch. Nox remembered her well. She seemed to be like the second in command in the Beacon Academy. Nox did not like her. At all. She was a rigid bitch in his opinion. If she would have gotten her way, he and Sangur would now be at a mental health institute. Only good witch is a dead witch, as Sangur had so nicely put it.

The gathering was obviously over and people started to drift away.

"Shall we go then?" Sangur grunted.

Nox nodded silently. They stepped outside with the flow of other students. Some headed for the ball room, some just seemed to want to wonder around and get familiar with the place. Some were trying to find the map of the Academy with their scroll to find out where the hell the ball room was, and some people were heading in totally different directions after supposedly finding the map.

"So. Where is it?" Sangur asked while watching back and forth unsure where to go when the people started scattering around. Some people even went back inside.

"You have the map on your scroll," Nox said as he took out his own.

Sangur felt his pockets. "Oh yeah, we have those things now." He touched his cloths all over. "But I think I left it with my other stuff."

Nox opened his hand held device a little clumsily. He was not yet familiar with the device, as Ozpin had provided it just recently. He had never had a scroll before that. It seemed like all people had one. He had not considered it that common before, but recently he had noticed pretty much everybody using them all the time. Strange that he had not noticed it before, but he was not really what one could call people person.

He tried to navigate the device to find the map, but he had not that much success. The software of the device was really hard to understand to a simple person like Nox.

"Do you know how to download the map?" Sangur asked with doubt.

"I don't have to. Ozpin downloaded that and some other things before he handed it to me. I just have to find the map file. Just give me a minute."

They stood there, Nox fiddling with the scroll and Sangur waiting for something resembling results.

They stood there for five minutes.

"This fucking thing is messing with me on purpose!" Nox growled loudly when he accidentally opened the camera for the fourth time.

He closed the device and stuffed it in his pocket. "That way," he nodded and started walking.

"Did you find the map?"

"No"

And so they wandered on until it was almost dark.

"We need a physical map in the future," Nox said as they finally stepped inside the ball room. The big open space was half covered in sleeping bags in relatively organized manner. Earliest ones had already went to sleep, but most of the students were still awake. Some people had their nightwear on and were hanging around the sleeping bag territory they had claimed, talking in little groups. Others had still their normal clothes on and were just getting ready to set up their sleeping bag. There was a small stream of people going in and out of one of the doors, and Nox presumed they lead to somewhere where the students could change their clothes, as the coming people were much lightly clothed.

They noticed a big pile of sleeping bags on the other side of the room, where they were suppose to acquire their own. As Nox looked around some more, he spotted signs that said where to find their luggage if they wanted to retrieve something from them, and a table that had some light food on offer if they were hungry. They were also apparently suppose to store their weapons in the locker rooms, but Nox had no desire to try to find where the hell those were located. And he was not going to spend the night without his weapons. Sangur seemed to think on the same lines, as he seemed to calculate could he stuff Skalathrax in the sleeping bag with him.

Nox nodded towards the sleeping bag pile. "Go get two of those and secure some corner for us. I'm gonna get us something to eat."

Sangur nodded in understanding and started heading for the pile. Nox started to plot his course to the table with the food.

There were two students looming over the table, and Nox waited for the black haired boy and the overly loud ginger haired girl to pass on before he himself proceeded to survey what the tables were stocked with.

There were some sandwiches in plastic covers, as well as apples and other fruits. Just something light so one did not have to go to sleep with an empty stomach.

He grabbed one of the sandwiches and observed it for a moment. There was a note that informed what it contained, but Nox did not bother to read any of them and just took couple of them for him to carry. He was not a picky eater. He also took one of the apples and took a bite instantly.

As he was eating it and just about to go find Sangur, he heard someone talking to him from behind.

"Hello, cousin..."

* * *

The progeny of the VIIIth turned to face Azuhrius. He had a apple in his other hand that he was eating, and the other hand held couple of sandwiches against his chest. His incredibly black eyes locked on to Azuhrius, as he continued to consume the apple.

For a moment they just stood there in silence, as Azuhrius waited for a response.

"Fuck off," came the clinical reply.

Then the black eyes averted their gaze as the boy started to walk away.

"Hey, wait a minute," Azuhrius rushed after him. This was not how he had expected this to go. "Is that the way to greet a fellow legionnaire?"

"No, but I don't feel like taking out my weapons right now. So be grateful and scamper somewhere that is not near me."

"Could you at least hear what I have to say."

"I don't really give a fuck. Whatever it is, I doubt I want to hear it."

Azuhrius hastened his steps and blocked the black haired boy's way, stopping both of them.

He did not try to move past him, but he did give Azuhrius a malicious look. The metallic talons at the end of the boy's legs bit a little into the floor.

"Don't make me drop these sandwiches. Because if you do, there is going to bit of a scene, and I highly doubt you want that."

"Just talk with me for a couple of minutes. I will let you go after that."

The black eyes glanced at the clock on the far back wall. "Okay then. You have until that clock is exactly ten. Hurry up."

Azuhrius took a peek at the clock. He had indeed just few minutes.

"Firstly, I want to know what you are doing here. You and the one of the XII. I thought all of your legions are dead. How and why are you here. Why did you leave Terra?"

There was hesitation for a moment in the black eyes, but then the pale boy seemed to come to conclusion that it did not really matter.

"We just got tired of all the shit there. We figured if we did not show up after that last breach then everybody would assume us dead. And it worked perfectly, until you showed up here. As for why were are here... We are just new students in this Academy. That is it. Just a pair of guys wanting to protect the people of this kingdom." There was sarcastic smirk on his face, as if he was totally honest.

Azuhrius was slightly abashed. "You are training to become huntsmen?"

The pale Venatore just shrugged his shoulders. "Yeah."

"Why in the warp?"

"Not your business. Why are _you_ here?" he shot back.

Azuhrius did not say anything to that. He did not want to give any important info to this black eyed snake, whose trustworthiness was a big question at this moment.

"I am also here to train in this Academy," Azuhrius said with a cool voice. Somewhat true, but not even nearly the whole truth.

"Bullshit." The black eyes gleamed as the boy squinted his eyes a little. "I remember you, and I know there is no believing in anything that you guys say."

Azuhrius was taken aback a little. The boy was pretty much the same age as him, so they had both grown up at the same time. But Azuhrius did not recognize him, at least not by name. He had not kept track of everyone's names before the breach. He was a little ashamed if this VIIIth legionnaire remembered him, but he did not remember the him in return. Metallic legs should have been pretty easy to remember."You know who I am?"

"You are Alpharius, are you not?" he said with his most smartass voice.

 _Hahaha, very clever._

"You are not wrong, but it is Azuhrius. "

The pale face twisted a little as the boy snickered for a moment. "You must have just broken some XXth golden rules."

"Perhaps. And what is your name?"

"Nox."

Azuhrius nodded. He did not remember that there had been any VIIIth of that name before the breach, but he had not really been close to that bunch. It was a name that the VIIIth legion had given to its recruits in the past, so there was a high chance that one of the last ones had that name.

"And your friend? The one from XIIth?"

"Sangur."

Now that name Azuhrius remembered just barely, though it was not really hard since the XII had not been very numerous in the recent past.

"Your time is soon out," Nox noted as the clock's hand started eating up away Azuhrius' last minute. He would have to hurry. He was under no illusion that the Nox would stay here where he was standing for even a second more than he had promised.

"Well then, I will get straight to the point. You are here to attend this Academy, so am I. I think there would be great benefits if we were to cooperate. I am sure you have heard that the students will be divided into teams in this Academy. So Nox, how about we form a team together?"

Nox was quiet for a whole two second before he replied to Azuhrius' offer.

"No."

Azuhrius was surprised once again by the black eyed boy. He was sure that Nox could see the benefits, so he did not understand why he was being refused. He had to salvage the situation quickly.

"There are-" The was all he managed to utter before he was interrupted.

"I, nor Sangur have any interest in working with you, or anyone else at Terra ever again. I am done with being the slave of the Pantheon. You can't have my life. I am not your sacrifice. The Gods can go to hell for all I care, but they are already there, aren't they? I am tired of the bullshit from you and them."

Then he quickly moved past Azuhrius before he had a chance to say anything else.

"Next time you come to me, I am going to let Sangur rip your skull out and beat you to death with it," Nox shot over his shoulder.

Azuhrius was left standing there alone. He remained there for a moment, before he finally started to work his way back where Orchid was waiting for him next to the wall. He had already set up their sleeping bags, and was sitting legs crossed on his one.

"So? How did it go?" He asked.

"Not that well. He refused pretty much straight out. He said they don't want anything to do with Terra."

Orchid puffed. "Does that mean I can kill them?"

"No, you can not."

"Can I kill just the brute? The other might see the reason in your proposition if I do that."

"No, you can not."

"Can I at least maim him. Just a little. Just a limb or two. Just a little of the sides.

"No, Orchid, You cannot do any of that or anything in that direction. Even if they will not be on our team, they could still became our allies. I will not let you burn the bridges between us.

"I don't burn bridges," Orchid said innocently. "I burn rivers."

* * *

 **Did anyone expected things to go this way?**

 **Leave a review to tell me what you think, if you feel it in your heart.**


	4. Chapter 4

**This is the last chapter before the Initiation. I hope we all can all pull trough this to see it, dangerous and filled with trials as it may be.**

* * *

 **Chaos is the Prize Chapter 4**

"Is that him?" Sangur asked as he fished out his twin weapons from the sleeping bag he had slept in.

"Yeah," Nox replied as he watched the boy pack away his sleeping bag on the other side of the ballroom. "He said his name was Azuhrius."

"He told you his name?! He is from the XXth, right?" Legionnaires of XXth were known for their anonymity habits.

"I know, crazy right?"

They kept on watching at Azuhrius and the other legionnaire he was with.

"He did not tell me he had company," Nox said. "One of IIIrd..." Nox glanced at Sangur as he mentioned the number of the Legion Azuhrius' accomplice clearly belonged to. He was little worried that Sangur might rush across the room to claim his skull. Sangur had not killed anything in a while, and even if he had butchered all the Grimm in proximity to Vale a second ago, Nox would not have counted on him being able to resist the temptation to rip and tear this new face. Last night, Nox had been worried about what would happen when he broke the news to Sangur. He had intentionally waited over the course of the night, because he did not believe Sangur would have been able to sleep if he had know he was sleeping in a same room with other Venators. Nox of course had remained awake the whole night, which allowed to make sure no one tried to murder the two of them in the dark.

But Sangur seemed surprisingly calm. Now Nox was really worried.

"Did he say why they are here," Sangur asked.

Nox shrugged. "Just some total bullshit about training here as students."

"Is that not, kinda, why we are here?" Sangur asked.

"Yeah, but that is different. If there was another me in here right now, claiming that he was here just to train to become a hunter, I would not believe even him. Think how much I am going to believe what someone from the XXth tells me."

"I get what you mean," Sangur said.

There was a moment of silence between them. Students around them were getting their stuff together and slowly leaving for a breakfast awaiting them in the dining hall. Earliest students had left before Sangur had even woken up, but even now there where still few individuals sleeping, struggling to remain in their dreams just a moment longer. The sleeping figures pulled Nox's attention to them.

Nox was so damn jealous of those few sleepers. He felt the anger rise inside him as he watched their dreaming faces. The peaceful visages seemed to mock him. He felt urge to get to them and stab all those people in their sleep for the crime of enjoying something he himself could not.

"So..." Sagur said after a while. "Do we kill them?"

Nox turned his gaze from the slumbering students to Sangur. "Of course we are not going to kill them," Nox commented the suggestion. "How to hell do you think we would get away with that in here?"

"I want to kill the Slaaneshi wimp," Sangur said as his fingers rubbed the triggers of his two chainaxes, not pressing them but really close.

"I know you do. But you cannot. Not in here."

"They don't want a weakling like him in this place. I would do them a favor by removing him."

"I doubt they will see the reason in your words if you tell them that," Nox said, entertaining himself for a moment with the thought of what Ozpin would said If Sangur killed another student on the second day in the Academy. As much as the face of the old man would be worth seeing, Nox was not willing to deal with the consequences.

"If you attack anybody here, they will lock you up again. You don't want that, do you?" Nox reasoned. "Not this place, not today. Come on. Let's go get some food."

Nox took few steps towards the door. For a moment he thought that Sangur would not listen, but then he lowered Skalathrax. The red chainaxe twins vanished behind their owner's back as Sangur put them away. "Fine," he grunted and followed Nox.

* * *

Their voices were like a blessing from the Prince of Pleasure's own divine lips. The way they echoed in the full dining hall amplified their magnificence. They resonated his very soul. He could have listened them for hours here on this perfect stage that amplified them. He could not get enough of them.

Azuhrius had said something to him as the progeny of the XXth returned to sit next to him along the long table. He did not hear what he had to say, for he was totally occupied by the angelic resonance.

"They are so beautiful..." Orchid whispered.

"What?" Azuhrius said as he glanced away from his scroll.

"Their voices..."

Azuhrius glanced around for a moment. "Are you talking about the females?"

Orchid did not say anything, he just nodded.

"... Are you crying?" Azuhrius asked.

Orchid raised his hand to his cheek. His hand indeed came to contact with something wet. "It appears I am..."

Azuhrius seemed somewhat intrigued with his companion's reaction. "You can listen, but you cannot touch. Remember that."

"I know, I know," Orchid said dismissively.

"Also remember that females are cunning creatures. After thousands of years of evolution they have achieved unrivaled expertise in manipulation. You have to be very careful and vigilant when dealing with them. Remember that."

After Azuhrius had finished, Orchid looked around with, if possible, even more admiration.

"Well, stay here. I am going again," Azuhrius said as the raised from his seat, even though he had just sit down moment earlier. He had been doing that constantly for a while now. He said he was was probing the possible teammates, whatever that meant. Orchid could not have cared for less right now. He was fully content to just sit here, listening.

He closed his eyes.

"So beautiful..." he whispered again.

* * *

"Ruby, hey, slow down," Yang said to his little sister as the redhead hurried to get breakfast. She had ran to the location where the food could be picked up so fast that Yang thought she was using her semblance. "Why are you in such a hurry?"

"I don't understand how you can be so calm, dear sister," Ruby said as she pulled to a stop at the end of a small line of students. "After we this we are going to go retrieve my sweet heart from the weapon lockers, and then it is time get into the action! I am so hyped about the initiation. I prefer fighting the Grimm to being new to a school any day."

The line went on and Ruby grabbed a tray from a pile, and then proceeded to lay plate on it.

"Yeah, you are right about that. This place is awesome and all, but so is showing the Grimm who's boss," Yang replied with a smirk.

"Speaking of the Initiation," Ruby said. "Are the teams formed before it?" She seemed little nervous. Yang was sure it was because her sister was timid about the possibility of having to work with new people. Yang though such situation could only be good for her.

"I have no idea how or when the teams are formed. I asked around, but no ones knows for sure. It appears that information about that has not been released to the students."

"Well, as long as you are with me, all should go fine," Ruby retorted. It was the other students she was worried about in the Initiation, not the deadly soulless creatures of darkness that they would be facing.

"Yeah, as Xia Long you are with me," Yang saw a chance and took it!

Ruby was not impressed. "If anything- " Ruby did not have time to finish the sentence she had started. She had just grabbed a spoon from a box containing them. But someone else had also grasped the same spoon.

Ruby turned his head around. She was met with the blackest of the black eyes. The pale boy, who she had managed to hit in the head with the dust bottle yesterday was standing next to her, holding the same spoon Ruby was holding a little lower. Their stood in silence for a moment, and Yang could see as the recognition happened behind their eyes.

"Oh god, this too is happening again," Ruby whispered so silently that it was a miracle that Yang heard her.

Ruby let out a small and high pitched cry, as she let go of the spoon. The boy with the... metal legs(?) let go in the same instant.

"Sorry, I-" Was all Ruby managed to say before the boy grabbed another spoon and just walked away without saying a word for her. An irritated glance was all he gave to Ruby.

"Why am I having these kinds of encounters with people..." She said whimpering.

"Did you know him?" Yang asked as she peered after the boy. What a strange pair of legs, she though.

"Kinda... He was the boy I told you about yesterday. The one I shot in the head with the bottle. Because of him, the situation currently is one friend, two enemies, as you put it.

"Oh! Him. Yeah, I remember you telling me about him. So that was him."

"I am starting to think I am cursed or something..." Ruby whined as he took another spoon for herself.

Yang tried to encourage her sister. "It will be okay, you will see! As long as you don't shoot him with more bottles you two will be, if not friends then at least friendly classmates. How bad can it be?"

"I don't know who would be harder to get along with: him or Weiss," Ruby said.

"Oh. That bad, huh?"

* * *

Nox did not like Ozpin, or the way the man had forced him and Sangur to attend his school. In the silent hours of nights, he had found himself plotting how to take revenge on the headmaster. He had imagined all kinds of terrible things he would inflict upon the man, before he would let Sangur claim the skull from the broken body.

...But all was instantly forgiven when Nox sat down in the dining hall and started devouring the one of the best breakfasts of his life.

The old man's suffering was delayed for now, Nox thought as the third serving of bacon vanished into his mouth. The fried eggs met their doom next.

"Milk for the corn flakes!" Sangur cried out loudly next to him, which made people around look at them. Sangur poured milk into his cereals, and that seemed to be the only breakfast he was going to eat.

"Maybe coming in here was not entirely terrible thing," Nox said.

"True that," Sangur replied as he emptied his cup of cereals like he was an World class Eater. "I am going to go get some more of this."

"Okay. I am just going to remain here to guard the bacon."

As Nox watched Sangur go, his coincidentally spotted two students just close by eating... pancakes? There were no pancakes offered here. Where had they acquired them, he wondered. He did not really want to make contact with other students, but since pancakes were in question, he would make an exception.

Nox leaned in their direction. "Hey, where did you get those," he nodded at the pancakes.

The boy with a pink stripe in his black hair turned to look at him, where as the girl next to him continued to eat and talk on despite Nox. "I made them," was the reply.

Nox leaned back. Damn, he really wanted pancakes. He had never eaten them before, but he had heard them mentioned in the legends telling of the time before the darkness, before the Heresy. Unfortunately the pair finished their pancakes before Nox could recruit Sangur to help him steal some. The hyperactive girl actually most likely helped the boy clear his portion.

Nox returned to his delicious bacon. He would have to keep eyes out for pancakes in the future.

Sangur returned with a new, bigger bowl of cereal. "Milk for the corn flakes!" echoed again.

* * *

Most of the students around her had already finished their meals and left for the locker rooms to reclaim their weapons for the soon to beginning Initiation. She herself had also finished quite a while ago, yet she remained seated at the dining table. She was waiting for someone.

Weiss' eyes were locked to the back of the girl who was eating in the next table directly in front of her. The heiress was smiling slightly, and her fingers were crossed together like she was scheming something.

Pyrrha Niko. Weiss thought herself to be very lucky. What a perfect teammate. If Weiss managed to get the champion of Mistral to her side, there would be no stopping the two of them!

She had hoped she could make her first contact during the breakfast. Pyrrha had however sat down in a spot where there were people sitting all around the red haired girl (though they held a respective distance because of course they knew who she was), so Weiss had decided to wait for now. She would make her move as soon as a suitable moment presented itself.

"Just you wait. You will be on my team..." she said to herself while her eyes gleamed sharply.

"Oh? Are you aiming to form a team with Nikos?" came a voice from her back left. She turned her eyes quickly, surprised that someone had heard her words.

A boy came and sat next to her. It almost, just almost, seemed like the boy had waited for a good excuse to come and talk to her, but maybe she was just imagining things.

"Someone like her would undoubtedly make your team powerful. You seem like you have a good character evaluation skills," the boy said, and Weiss felt pleased that someone acknowledged her good sense of people. He seemed like a sensible person.

The boy had short blue hair that had a little greenish tint to it at the ends, and he had sharp sea green eyes. Weiss was little surprised by his clothing that was obviously his combat gear. It seemed like he was wearing modified Atlesian military uniform, although he was missing the helmet, shoulder pads and rest of the arm protection. The modern breastplate was painted in blue, and the parts around his neck were emerald green. The dark under armor suit covered his arms and ended in gray gloves in his hands. He had knee guards, something that Atlesian soldiers lacked, and the guards over his heels and black boots were the same blue as his breastplate. His belt contained storage pouches, and he had a dark gray mini cloak falling down from his waist that covered the back of his legs.

If Weiss had seen him somewhere else, she would have thought he was some sort of specialist from the Atlesian military.

"Allow me to introduce myself. Azuhrius Lernaean at your service. Nice to make your acquaintance." The blue haired boy nodded to her in greeting.

"Weiss Schnee. it is pleasure to meet you too." She said, maybe not warmly, but at least courteously. He seemed decent compared to some of the people Weiss had had a misery of meeting so far in the Academy.

"Weiss Schnee?"

The boy sounded little surprised, and Weiss thought that maybe he had not recognized her by appearance before he had sat down to talk to her. He certainly seemed familiar with her name though, Weiss though as she allowed herself hint of a smile.

"Wow, I was not expecting the heiress of the Schnee Dust company to be attending the Beacon Academy. Not that I am questioning your capability, which I am sure is unquestionable, I am just taken a little aback."

Her smile widened just a bit by the complimenting words of the boy. He seemed decent indeed.

"Since I am in possession of extraordinary talent, it is only right that I would attend this prestigious school," she said with clear voice, rising her chin just a tad with pride.

"Well, I am sure Nikos would be worthy teammate for you." The boy looked at the red haired girl and then back at Weiss. "Do you know how the teams are assigned? I don't think that there has been any official information given to the new students. It would be a shame if you would not be able to choose her to be one your team."

"No, that is something the schools seems to want to keep from us for the time being. But I am sure it will be alright. They would not just form the teams with some almost random chance method. I believe they are going to allow us to form the teams on our own and then they are probably going to test our compatibility in with some sophisticated method. I have confidence in my team forming abilities and I am sure Nikos will see the benefits in teaming up with me.

Azuhrius seemed to be react little oddly to her final words, but the reaction was gone before she knew it. He stood up and prepared to leave.

"Well I wish you all the luck in your endeavors. I will see you around." He waved his hand as he turned away.

As he got away from her, Weiss saw him opening up his scroll quickly and tapping his fingers on its screen briefly, as if marking something down. He closed the device and kept on going.

She was little surprised. When he had sat down next to her, and especially when he had started talking about the teams, she had waited for him to ask to be on her team. It was nice to see that some people had the decency not to crave after her excellence.

The red haired champion of Mistral finished with the eating and rose up from the table. Weiss quickly followed her as she started to make her way to the locker rooms.

* * *

Pyrrha checked the map from her scroll that gave her automatically quickest way to the beacon cliff where the Initiation would begin very soon. "I think it is that way," she said to Weiss who accompanied her.

"Shall we go then," the heiress said, as they exited the locker rooms together.

They turned around a corner and almost ran into someone.

"I'm sorry," Pyrrha said apologetically as he stepped back.

The boy was calmly leaning against the wall, despite the recent announcement that told them to gather at the cliffs for the Initiation. It almost seemed like he had been waiting for them.

The boy said nothing as he separated from the wall and came to stand right in front of them.

He was half a head taller the Pyrrha was, and his clothing seemed to lack any idea of symmetry. They were a stylish patch work of white, black and a shade of purple. Black was also used as ornamental trim. His clothing left his stomach bare, showing his abdomen muscles. There was a dark and sharp looking knee guard on his right knee, and white, black trimmed shin guard on his left leg. His arms were bare, without counting very short spiky sleeve over his left shoulder, and golden wrist piece accompanied by black band on his right arm. His boots seemed to be reinforced with metal. From a fancy metallic belt buckle fell a short white cloth that had his personal symbol on it. He had something on his back that looked like combination of backpack and a loudspeaker.

His Pink eyes seemed somehow shrouded, but they had a peculiar focus somewhere deep in them. The left side of his head was shaved from hair and the silky white hair fell over the right side of his head over his chin. It was however not the pure white like Weiss' hair. It had somewhat ghoulish tint to it, and combined with the eyes it made the boy look a little sick. The boy had a really peculiar skin. It seemed so perfect. Impossibly perfect. A real skin is full of small details and defects that come from simply belonging to a living being, accrued over a lifetime of exposure to the outside world, but the flesh of this boy seemed totally devoid of things like that. It was like a painting, where such details were unnecessary. The flesh looked unnatural, inhuman. Somehow the perfection of his skin made him look more sick, not less.

"Are you the champion of Mistral?" he asked looking straight at Pyrrha with his vivid pink eyes. The sound of his voice had strange, quite high melody, and Pyrrha wondered if the boy practiced singing.

"I, uh..."Pyrrha was not sure how to answer the question right away, so Weiss managed to reply before her.

"Well, she has won the Mistral regional tournament four times in a row," Weiss repeated what she had told Jaune just a moment ago. "She is indeed Pyrrha Nikos, if that is what you are asking."

"Hello," Pyrrha said with a smile.

The boy clearly heard Weiss' words, but he did not spare even a glance to the white haired girl. He was still observing Pyrrha with look that she was very familiar with. It was the look of someone assessing their opponent. She had seen it countless times in her many matches.

"Can I help you," Pyrrha asked when the boy did not say anything for a while.

The boy leaned back a little. "No, I was just wondering," he said with a smile that did not have any warmth in it. "I would very much like us to test ours skills in combat sometime."

This was another thing Pyrrha was somewhat used to. People who had great faith in their fighting proves wanted to measure themselves against her.

"I would be happy to do that when we have the chance," Pyrrha said politely.

He seemed pleased to hear that and smiled a bit wider. "Excellent. Well, I see you around." He turned to leave.

"May I ask the name of my challenger?" Pyrrha raised her voice after him.

He stopped and turned. He made an elaborate and almost mocking bow to the two girls. "My name is Orchid Sonus. Nice meeting you, Champion of Mistral."

"Likewise."

He turned again and soon he vanished behind a corned.

"He seemed strange." Weiss said when they lost visual to Orchid. "And what does he think gives him the right to ask someone like you to duel with him," Weiss said with disapproval in her voice.

"It is quite okay. I am used to it," Pyrrha replied. "Were we not in on our way to the cliffs?"

Weiss let out a small shriek. "Oh, we must hurry!"

The two of blasted off at the speed of light.

* * *

 **So now we know how the other two look like. Based on what you have seen so far, who is your favorite of the four? Please do tell me.**

 **Next chapter will be the start of the Initiation (Wow, who would have ever guessed!?), so there will finally be some more action. Now is also time to place your bets and make a guess how it is going to play out, if you are into that.**

 **Leave a review, if you feel it in your heart, and have a nice day.**


	5. Chapter 5

**Initiation is here, and finally it is time for some much needed violence. Can't have good 40k crossover story without some nice blood spilling.**

* * *

 **Chaos is the Prize Chapter 5**

Blake had been one of the first to arrive at the cliffs, so she was given the liberty to select pretty much any of the strange metallic plates on the ground to stand on. Professor Goodwitch had said that they were "starting positions". She chose the last one at the left end of the row. Blake was little worried, because when she stepped on it hard enough, she could feel the suspended square on the ground vibrate tensely as if it was some sort of primed catapult. But maybe she was just imagining it.

Only two students were the with her at first. A boy with a olive green cloak who was standing halfway down the line of plates, and another one two plates from Blake who based on his clothing looked like he belonged to Atlesian military.

Rest of the students arrived with unsteady pace. They came in small groups who had tagged together for the short trip. Blake saw the Schnee heiress arrive together with Pyrrha Nikos. In seemed like the place had been harder to find for some than others. The latter half of the arrivals often complained that they had gotten lost on the way.

One of the students with a dark blue hoodie and strange looking legs cursed quite loudly about his scroll and almost threw the device off the cliff.

When the all student had arrived, Professor Ozpin explained the Initiation and how the students would form a team with the first one they made eye contact with after landing.

Then the headmaster told them to take on positions, and they started firing students to the sky. Blake was the first to go.

* * *

There were sounds of launcher plates going off, coming ever closer to where Sangur was standing. He was grinning broadly. After just a moment, he would be slaughtering creatures of Grimm down in the forest. His head was hurting. He had not killed anything in a week, and he had slight difficulties keeping the red haze at bay. He had trouble focusing on just standing on his plate and waiting for his turn.

The white haired Canemaster had said something about some relics and temples, but Sangur had missed most of what had been said. He trusted Nox to keep track of what to do after the _destroying everything on your path or you will die_ -part.

"Listen," Nox said from his left. "Don't make eye contact with anyone after you land. Stay low. I will find you."

Sangur nodded, hearing but only half understanding Nox's words.

"So, like, did you hand out parachutes for us," his ears happened to catch a voice coming down the line of students from his right.

"I have a feeling that there is going to be someone left without a pair," Nox said.

"No. You will be using your own landing strategy, the Canemaster replied to a blond student.

"Not this shit again!" Came another voice much closer. Sangur recognised it as belonging to the white haired weakling from the IIIrd. His smile just kept on growing.

Sangur turned, and was just about to bark an insult to the wimp, when the plate under him went off. He only managed to mutter a short gurgle and then he was flying.

The swooshing air felt good against his face. It promised the freedom of blood letting to come when it was over.

Sangur saw the first blood being scored before the earner had even reached the ground, as the small girl in red and black decimated a bird on her flight path. Sangur let out a laugh, happy for the red girl.

Now then, he thought. Landing _._ He pulled Skalathrax from his back. The red chainaxes were ready to spill the blood, and Sangur was eager to grant it to them.

He spread his hands as the trees got closer. He spotted nice thick looking branch and adjusted his trajectory a notch by shifting his aerodynamics. The was a very loud crunch when the chain axes impacted the thick branch, simply just smashing into the tree. His flight came to an very abrupt and unrefined stop and he lost some Aura from his reserves to endure the hit.

He was left hanging from the branch by his twin axes that were embedded into it. After he had stopped flailing, he pulled the triggers. The axe teeth whirred to life, freeing themselves in an instant and sending him into a drop to the ground. His black boots hit the ground, and he straightened himself to look around. There were no Grimm in the immediate vicinity. He growled in displeasure.

Sangur pulled deep breath, and let go. The red haze filled his head in an instant. It felt good to push the restraint aside, to let instinct and fury take over.

He completely forsaked any thoughts about Nox or Initiation. Now he needed just one thing: Enemies.

"Blood..." He growled quietly as he spun into a run and disappeared into the trees. He would let the Emerald Forest run red.

* * *

His metallic bird like legs slowed down the speed of the fall with each step as he leaped from tree to tree. When much of the inertia was gone, he pushed the talons deep into the tree. He made quite a funny looking spin around the branch before he slowed to a complete stop on top of it.

Nox jumped down to the ground. He could hear a booming of weapon discharge as something yellow shot past above the trees, laughing.

Now to find Sangur, he thought.

He took in his surroundings fast, before he closed his black eyes. It was easy to avoid eye contact with someone unwanted when one did not require eyesight to act.

Nox opened his mouth just a bit, and activated his Semblance. His eyes were closed, but now he saw in a new way. The Semblance created a radar for him, a bit similar to the ultrasound navigation to some flying mammals. Only far superior. With it, he had 360 degree "vision" to everything in the radius of a few tens of meters.

Nox knew that is was not vision, but it did feel like it. With his mind, he saw the world as a mesh of sharp blue echoes that represented objects of the world near him. He often wondered, if he did not see them, how could they seem blue to him?

The metallic legs accelerated him into a sprint. The artificial legs were surprisingly good for running. Nox had noticed that he seemed to often run faster than others, even if he had shorter legs. It was good to be a fast runner. When the situation went sour, he was usually able to escape safely. He was really used to running from things.

Now he only had to avoid other students, which was easy, and hope that someone did not find Sangur before him. He doubted that the blood nut was smartly just sitting somewhere eyes closed. The chrome raptor legs ran a little faster when he realised how severe the situation was.

 _Shit shit shit, I need to find him fast._

Maybe it won't be so hard, he thought. He would just need to find the biggest fight. "Because that's where I'll find you," he said to himself. He just hoped that Sangur would be going against the Grimm and not other students. Ozpin would definitely not approve.

He heard voices ahead. There were more than one, so he did not see the reason to slow down or change the course, as the students had most likely formed a pair already. After few seconds they came into the range of his Semblance radar. A sound made by human mouth had a different "color" on his radar. He could, in a way, see their speech.

There was a girl with a skirt and a rapier. And then there was a boy who had somehow been impaled high up into a tree by a javelin, hanging from his hoodie. There was also someone a little further behind the rapier girl, but he did not pay that person much focus, as it certainly was not Sangur. Nox could detect both of them turning to look at him when he reached them.

"Don't mind me, just passing through," he said, and was already far away from them before either of them could react.

"Hey wait! Come back, any of you! Who's gonna get me down here!" came fading yellowish voice behind him.

Not me, Nox thought.

* * *

Orchid made his way through the east side of the forest. His flight course had taken him quite a way from the most direct path to where the temple was supposed to be. He hated to admit it, but he just did not possess the same mobility as some other Aura users. His weapon did not produce recoil he could use, and he did not have any gadgets to get around. When he had been launched to the sky, his journey through the air and the following landing had been… let's just say less than elegant and leave it at that. Seriously, if anybody ever asked him about it, he would probably cut out their tongue or at least express his displeasure at the tasteless quarry. Possibly both.

The terrain had been turning more rocky as he moved along. The trees became sparser. He did not think that he could actually go anymore east, as the on his left side was the edge of a cliff that went so far down that when he had checked, he could not see the abyssal bottom. He wondered if he should head to west deeper into the forest.

At that moment he noticed he had arrived at the beginning of a wide fissure on the ground that lead far below the surrounding ground level. He stopped where the terrain started to slope slightly downwards. It seemed like some giant hand had scooped the surface and left a quite deep rut down and then up again, forming a sloped path into the ground. It would be a terrific sledging place with the help of some ice dust.

He weighed his options. He could continue on the ground level next to the wound in the ground, or he could head down into the ravine. That or he could just turn straight to the right and head into the trees. After a few seconds, he made his choice. He continued forwards and started descending into the deep terrain formation.

After he was maybe ten meters below the ground level, where it seemed like a big canyon to him, he let out a short yell. The voice echoed wonderfully from the rocky walls. He smiled as the amplified sound waves made their way through the deeps and finally faded. He let out another voice, a louder shriek. Again the natural theater made his voice resonate marvelously.

Before he could however open his mouth for the third time, he heard rocks scraping against each other. He stopped to listen.

The stone few meters to his right broke away and a face of a Creep emerged from rock wall as the creature of Grimm dig itself into daylight.

Orchid stood his ground calmly and took his fingers to the handle of his weapon that was locked to the backside of his waist.

There was another sound of Skittering stones as a second Creep excavated upward from the ground behind Orchid. A third one followed, appearing only two meters from Orchid on his left side. The Fourth one was not the last.

Repel wore off.

As more and more Creeps exploded from the ground or the canyon walls, Orchid pulled forth his weapon. He held Malevolence in his right hand, the tip of the one edged cutlass just a hair's breadth from the ground. The wide blade of the sword was not of clear silver, but a cloudy white color. There also was faint, barely tangible purplish tint, like a reflection of something else. His finger came to the trigger inside large golden hand guard covering the handle. The elegant guard had furrows running on the side of the blades edge, forming a golden speaker covering Orchid's fist.

And then he spurred forward into a run. He shot forward from his position and ran from the Grimm towards the other end of the canyon, metal reinforced shoes almost gliding over the ground. The Creeps followed as black wave that surged after its prey with the intent of crushing it.

They were quite fast. Orchid did not run as fast as it was possible for an aura user like him, and the filthy xenos were not far behind. If he were to stumble, they would be on him before he would hit the ground.

There seemed not to be end for them either. More came from their hiding places for a chance to hunt him. More of them also started to splash out in in a shower of stone fragments in front of him. Soon he could not just avoid the newly spawned creatures. Malevolence came forward in a sweeping arch that cleanly cut off a leg of a Grimm who tried to block his path. The Creep howled in pain and fell down, and was quickly trampled by the stampede of its eager kin in the tight space as they rushed after him.

Orchid spun his sword and a Grimm on his left had a deep wound sliced from its jaw to the end of its tail. Another lost its eyes as the magnificent blade slashed across its bone colored face.

There was not short supply of the Creeps that came across him, and Orchid dispatched them with artful strokes of his sword. He was clearing the Creeps from the lane easily. He was incredibly fast, his strikes elegant and precise. Not a single Grimm was killed by his strikes however. He attacked only to wound and to produce as much of agony as he had the chance, but he made sure none perished immediately. He did not need the last hits. They had to be offered a chance to cry out their agony.

The canyon was soon filled with the screams of the black creatures. The sounds echoed from the walls, intensifying the cacophony.

Drugs flowed freely to his system from the storage on his back. They heightened his senses and quickened his reflexes. His body and mind pulsed from the combined excess of agents in his veins and the adrenaline fueled high of battle.

"Yes…" Orchid whispered with a wide twisted smile on his lips.

The exquisite symphony only grew louder and greater every second, and Malevolence fed on all of it. His beautiful cutlass sucked in the suffering of the creatures around them, as did he himself. There was more than enough of it in this carnage as Orchid cut his way forward from the thickening mob of Grimm that would overwhelm him the moment his speed slowed down. The pain around him was overflowing. It was Wonderful.

"Yes!" he yelled, followed with peaked and maniac laughter, that mixed in with a screams and howls.

They were miserable inhuman creatures, but Orchid was still able to sense the anguish he was reaping among them. And he loved it.

"YES!" he shrieked with his voice ringing and cracking at the same time. The could feel the energy harvested from the sufferers pulse and saturate his very being. Time for the release!

With an extension of great strength he jumped into the air, spinning while he flied over the Creeps like a dancer or a cyclone.

"SLAANESH SINGS THROUGH ME!" He cried from the top of his lungs and pulled the trigger in his sword's hand guard. A unimaginable cacophony of pure sound was released from the gleaming speaker of his weapon's hand guard. It reached every creature of Grimm as he spun around, directing the speaker so everyone of them could get their share.

The Creeps exploded. The sheer might of the sonic weapon ripped them to pieces in a heartbeat. They all died, the sound they made in their demise eclipsed by the resonance that unmade them. All that was left behind were black and red shreds of flesh.

Orchid landed in a pose like he had just finished a performance to an invisible audience. The ground around was littered with a sea of remains, and the air was filled with black ashen mist from the disintegrating waste that had a foul smell. They were in so small pieces that they were disappearing at an unbelievable rate.

There was wet sound as Orchid made forward over the dark pools, his shoes raising black corpse matter that splashed around.

He had almost reached the end of the crack in the ground and the earth was rising rapidly. He made his way up and soon he was once more on the level with the forest. The air was much cleaner than below where the corpses of the xenos were vanishing, and he took a deep breath.

There was a large rock a short way ahead that captured his attention, because his ears picked up something. He could hear, even if he could not see. As he approached, the air around the the brownish gray block shimmered, and a figure appeared out of nothing. He was sitting on the rock, clearly waiting for Orchid.

"You were really easy to find after you started making some noise," Azuhrius said as he leaned against the rock.

"And your breathing is very loud," Orchid replied.

* * *

Flames spread from the darkened husk of a tree that the white one's stray attack had incinerated. The forest bed caught fire quickly from the burn dust empowered furnace. Another tree weakened by fire collapsed near the red and white pair. The anguished howls of the Beowolves around them started to get mixed in with the crunches of burning trees and grass.

"We have to go," said the white one with the rapier as she grabbed the red one's arm. They retreated from the inferno that was creating a giant tower of black smoke that rose high into the sky.

Some creatures of Grimm could not pursue them because of the walls of fire between and they escaped into the forest, scattering to find other things to hunt. Some of them had their fur set on fire and they vanished whining behind the trees, trying to escape the heat.

Those that did not escape and were not denied of pursuit by the fire made to follow the two huntresses in training. The Alpha howled, rallying its lesser kin. But before they could run after them, they were presented with a new prey.

Sangur jumped over the fire tide, the flames licking him as he crossed them. The flickering fire drained some Aura from him, but that was what it was for: to take damage. A warrior must not be afraid to get hurt. A fire of dust origin did not even work on him that well anyway.

The Black creatures turned to him. For the majority of them, he was unreachable because of the fire. The flames surrounded the area, trapping him in a circle with some of the smaller filthy creatures, and the Alpha. Their eyes were radiating hate as they focused on him. He hated them, and they hated him, but they were foul soulless beasts that were incapable of good, honest human hatred.

He walked steadily towards the biggest of the pack, left chainaxe over his shoulder and the right hanging in a tight, twitching grip. A rough smirk was on his face as he stared at the big Alpha.

The closest Beowulf rushed towards him with unruly fury. It roared as it threw itself into the attack.

Sangur glanced towards the beast as it charged with a mixed look that said _you? really?_ and _Bring it._ Skalathrax roared mechanically as the its chains started to rotate.

The black front limb slashed with its bone white talons. The right chainaxe met it in an almost effortless under slung counter, ripping the limb into shreds in a shower of blood as the metallic teeth of the weapon ate through it. The same weapon came down an instant later, splitting the head of the creature the same way. The ruined body fell past him as he continued his inexorable advance.

The Alpha growled at him, and the rest of the Beowolves charged. Sangur lowered both of his axes to his sides and let out a wet growl of his own, his blood lust burning his veins. Then he slowly picked up speed to meet the incoming creatures in glorious melee, the most honorable form of combat.

The first Beowolf did not even get a chance. Sangur rammed it with his twin weapons held crossed, and then pulled them free across the beast. It split apart without letting out even a whine. He hacked into another, cutting it to pieces with three powerful hits fueled by his fury.

Two Beowolves attacked from opposing sides at him, not through cooperation but pure coincidence. Sangur locked the chain teeth to keep on running, pulled his right hand weapon back and threw it with terrible force at the one coming from his left. The spinning axe smashed against its face, cracking its skull and sending it tumbling to the ground and halting it right at his feet.

The he spun around and bashed the second one in the face with his now empty but armored fist. The force of his punch sent the Grimm staggering back and Sangur messily bisected it with an undercut strike from his left axe.

He picked up the weapon he had tossed from the splintered skull of disintegrating body beneath his boot in an instant and was already on his way to the next enemy.

He relished the blood that spilled onto the ground and into the air as his weapons ravaged his pathetic victims. He ripped and tore through them in brutal butchery, bathing in the savage spilling of the foul ichor of the xenos in the glory of the War God.

Some of the Beowolves were set on fire when his strikes hurled their wounded bodies into the inferno around them and they perished howling as the flames killed them faster than the wounds he had caused to them.

He was killing. He was maiming. And he was burning.

 _Kill, Maim, Burn! Kill, Maim, Burn! Kill, Maim, Burn!_

His head did not hurt like it constantly did outside of combat. Only in the thick of a slaughter could he find a red filled release.

The last of the lesser beast died as Sangur decapitated it, sending its severed head flying into the flames and the body to ground as he kicked it aside.

The only two beings in the ring of fire left alive were him and the Alpha. Considerably larger than it fallen kin, the beast let out a roar as it started to approach Sangur, eyes full of malice, but not mindlessly charging like the others. It was smart enough to be careful. It seemed it was starting to dawn to the big wolf who was the apex predator there.

Sangur pointed it with his right axe. "Come, xeno!" he said with a bloodthirsty voice. Skalathrax roared for blood.

And the soulless creature let loose a roar of its own. Sangur leaped in to meet it. Both of them howled as they met each other.

The massive claws came, but with size came slowness. Sangur gouged a deep wound into the limb as he dodged it. He tried to strike with a follow up but the beast's other arm forced him to block it with crossed weapons. His legs slid a little on the ground as he took the force of the blow, bleeding a slice from his Aura. When the momentum was exhausted, he moved past the the arm to strike at the chest of the beast. One of his chainaxes sank its teeth into the creature's torso, tearing out chunks of flesh and splashing blood.

Despite the injury, the Alpha lowered its upper body and tried to crush Sangur between its wide jaws. He cut up with his right chainaxe, burying it into the neck of the Grimm, pushing the bite aside.

The beast pulled its head back, growling in pain and anger. The deactivated chainaxe was embedded into the things neck, and as the beast pulled up, Sangur came too, hanging from his weapon at the side of the great Beowolf's head.

"Blood…. " He said as he struck his left chainaxe to the opposing side of the neck, cutting the flesh away and jamming it behind the spine so that he would not fall off. "...FOR THE BLOOD GOD!" He roared.

He kept a hold of the left axe, hacking the neck with his right one. The flesh and muscles were trashed to shreds, and the bone was giving away. He shut down the chains of the axes, leaving them to hang from what remained of the neck. "Skulls..." He grabbed the sides of the Alpha's head with a strong grip and pulled. "...TO THE SKULL THRONE!"

He pulled with his Aura empowered muscled and ripped the head of the beast free from the rest of it's body.

He landed to the ground, and there was a enormous thud as the headless corpse of the large Beowolf hit the ground next to him. He tossed the empty eyed head aside and went to the body to reclaim the chainaxe twins. They came off from the corpse, dripping red blood that pooled on the ground, slowly turning black and then ashen gray as it started to disintegrate into smoke.

Sangur breathed heavily as he watched the blood stained Skalathrax. It had been a good fight. He had waited for something like this for a while now. The big beast had proven worthy opponent. But the red haze was fading, and with it came the pain in his head. It was tolerable now after fresh blood spilling, but it would grow as it always did without appeasing.

He jumped over the flames that were still going on even when they had consumed much of the burning material of the soil, closing in on the huge corpse of the Alpha Beowolf.

Sangur vanished into the forest leaving it all behind.

 _Didn't I need to find Nox or something?_

As if on cue, he heard a very familiar yell and saw something dark blue moving very fast some distance away among the trees. There also seemed to be quite a many black things in pursuit, releasing animal barks and howls.

Sangur twisted his axes tightly and shot to a run.

 _Time to save his sorry ass once again._

* * *

 **And so the Initiation is underway.**

 **How did you feel about the fight scenes? Which one of them was better in your opinion?**

 **When the Initiation ends, I have something little to show you guys. I think you will be like it.**

 **Leave a review, if you feel it in your heart, and have a nice day.**


	6. Chapter 6

**Okay, here is the longest chapter yet, because I decided not to split the Initiation further. Remember when I said at the end of the last chapter that there would be something little after the Initiation? Well, hurry up, you have half of it yet to go.** **And then, there will be cake...**

* * *

 **Chaos is the Prize Chapter 6**

Orchid listened very carefully. "I think I heard a sloth," he said to Azuhrius.

"What?!"

"I said I heard a sloth."

They were sitting on some thick branches high up in a tree, hidden from view by the foliage. The tree was just at the edge of the clearing where the temple was located, a perfect vantage point for observation.

Azuhrius was using Stalker's magnifying scope to monitor the temple. A few of the relics were missing, indicating someone had gotten there before they had set up their sentry. The two of them had not yet retrieved their own relic, and they had been in the tree for awhile now. Azuhrius kept his sight steadfastly on the temple as he spoke. "I don't think sloths make a lot of noise," he retorted.

"One just has to listen well enough," Orchid said as he was laying lazily on his branch, hands hanging freely at his sides.

Azuhrius remained silent.

"So," Orchid said. "What are we waiting for exactly. I know you said it had something to do with the teams but why are we sitting in a tree watching the temple?"

"We are waiting for a suitable pair to pick up a relic," Azuhrius said as he gestured across the area with a sweep of his weapon.

"Why?"

"Because the teams of four are formed from two pairs that retrieve an identical relic. By waiting for the pair that we want to team up with to pick their relic, we can choose accordingly its twin, therefore effectively choosing our teammates."

Orchid nodded with this new revelation. _So that was how the Headmaster was going with this._ "How do you know all that? I don't think the team forming methods were revealed to the new students. I mean, they might have, but at least I did not hear anything about it, and the others seemed to be in the dark too based on what I have been hearing."

"Well, I did some gathering of intelligence way in advance. I wisely acquired the knowledge about all this beforehand," Azuhrius said.

"How in the Warp did you do that?" Orchid asked.

"By using my connections, I bribed several seniors to reveal it to me over six months ago."

"ha~," was all Orchid had to say about that. "So, have you chosen our teammates already?"

"Well, I can't possibly predict the pairs that they have formed, but I have arranged all the students in a suitability order. We will choose a pair that has combined the best suitability value. Some reasonably harmless and minimally intrusive people."

There was movement on the left side of the clearing, and Azuhrius focused on it, but it was merely a flock of birds that were not even spooked by anyone.

"Although, I am reasonably certain of some pairs. I am under no delusion that we are the only ones using team rigging. You remember that female with a wild blond hair? She was using sunglasses, probably to control who she would be making the eye contact with. Smart. why didn't I thought of that," Azuhrius said with a hint of appreciation for the girl's cleverness.

Orchid only realized it as Azuhrius explained it to him. The blond girl was surely a devious mastermind.

"And I doubt that our cousins are letting the chips fall where they may either," Azuhrius continued. "The VIIIth Legion Semblance is almost as good as avoiding undesired contact as mine."

Orchids lips twisted a bit from the mention of the another Venator pair taking part in the Initiation. "We are not going to team up with them, are we?" he asked from Azuhrius with a sour voice.

"No, worry not. They did seem quite hostile, and if we arranged things so that we would team up with them, that could agitate them and cause things to escalate. I would rather approach them more carefully and and in a calmer pace."

Orchid nodded. Then he perked up a little as he listened. "Two approaching from somewhere to the right," He said.

Azuhrius heard him and aimed his weapon's scope to the right side of the open field.

Soon a familiar blond hair could be made out against the trees of the forest.

"Huh, I would have thought that she would form a pair with her sister," Azuhrius said as he identified the pair. "The blonde is Yang Xia Long, and the black haired girl that accompanies her is Blake Belladonna."

The pair proceeded to the temple and started to investigate the chess piece relics that were spread around.

"What about them?" Orchid asked, rather hopefully. "Are going to team up with them?"

"No, definitely not," Azuhrius replied as he consulted his scroll. "I have pretty much nothing on the black haired one, and I would like to avoid unknown variables. The other one had those sunglasses, and I would also like to have someone less clever."

As the two of them watched, the two girls picked up golden horse relic, that represented white knight. It was at that moment that a ear piercing scream sounded over the forest. Orchid had to admit, the screamer had some talent.

"Looks like someone is in trouble," Orchid said as the sound faded.

At that moment, something red and yelling fell from the sky. Also, some other thing that sounded kinda like the scream just earlier flew over the forest at the exact same moment. Both of the unidentified yelling objects collided in the air, before crashing into the tree right next to the one Azuhrius and Orchid were in with a loud crash.

"Hey Ruby," a yellow haired boy with some white armor pieces said as he hanged from the branches just above a girl in a red and black combat skirt.

"Hey Jaune," the young girl replied.

Then the two of them spotted Orchid and Azuhrius sitting in the next tree over.

"Hey," The girl said coyly and waved a hand at them.

Orchid waved back, but Azuhrius was unable to form a reply as he just stared at the two suddenly emerged people with eyes wide and the mouth open.

Then some things happened that Orchid did not quite catch. There were Ursa riding, a Death Stalker, a lot more students, Giant Nevermore, more people falling from the sky, more yelling and more crazy shit like that involved. Before Orchid knew, all the people around the temple except him and Azuhrius had snatched a relic, and then ran away with the Death Stalker on their heels and the Nevermore soaring over them.

"What in the name of the Dark Prince just happened?!" Orchid snapped as he watched the recently vacated temple.

"I have no Idea," Azuhrius replied.

The forest line had movement again and Azuhrius quickly directed the Stalker to observe the newcomers. Another Pair was approaching the temple, jogging towards the location of the chess relics.

Orchid reached his head to see better. He did not have a scope like Azuhrius, but he could still pick out that they were a boy and a girl. The girl had a neck length teal colored hair and was wearing elaborate blue and light brown combat suit. The boy had a straw blonde hair and was wearing yellow light armor pieces over reddish brown coat.

"Teale Omicron…" Azuhrius said while hastily consulting his scroll. "And Aureolin Agar…" The pair reached the table and started to wonder the relics.

"It think this is the one we will take," Azuhrius retorted as he folded his scroll away. "I doubt we are going to get a better one. Only one above Aureolin in the suitability ranking is Jaune Arc, and he has already been snatched by other team. We will go with these two."

Azuhrius followed the pair as they picked their relic. "And the relic is… a black pawn."

Teale and Aureolin started to head away from the temple, running towards the forest line.

Azuhrius hanged his rifle behind his back and stood up. Orchid followed suit. "We will retrieve the second black pawn and then also head back. Lets.."

The woods exploded with noise and they turned to look. There was a literal horde of students running towards the temple. Orchid could have betted that all the other students who had yet to claim their relic were on that crowd. He could even spot the two Legionnaires from the VIIIth and the XIIth. Orchid had not even realized that there were so many other Initiation participants left.

And after the wave of kids, came the wave of Grimm. The black flood of beast chased after the human one, howling and growling angrily. It was largely made of Beowolves and Ursai, but there were also two King Tajitu's slithering after them. The Students could have easily taken care of the Grimm, but Orchid realized they were not really running away from the Grimm. Nobody just wanted to be the one left to deal with them and waste colossal amount of time while others claimed the relics and continued to finish the Initiation by returning.

"Eh, what do we do?," Orchid asked while looking at the stunned Azuhrius. Orchid could almost hear the _Shiiiiiiiiit_ from the blue haired Venator's mind.

Then Azuhrius turned lightning fast. "The black pawn! Secure it!"

"On it!" Orchid yelled, already on the way to the ground and then he started rushing towards the temple. He was fast, but not fast enough. He would not reach it before some of the others, but maybe he could get to the black pawn before them.

He came into contact with the crowd of other students and disappeared among them.

* * *

"What now," Sangur asked as they reached the Temple that was a somewhat ruined circle of grey stone.

Nox did not answer immediately, he just proceeded to grab the closest relic. His weapon talons that covered his hand closed around a black chess piece, a rook if he knew anything about the game. Then He turned to Sangur who was anxiously watching as some of the slower students were attacked by the massive wave of Grimm.

The huntsman and huntresses in training did not really have any problems, as the Grimm were pretty divided and did not gang up on anyone specifically. But now that the Initiation participants had reached the temple, they were forced to engage the beasts to get away. There were so many of the soulless fiends that their numbers hindered them, almost more than helped as they got each other's way. The big snakes were constantly crushing smaller beasts under them as they tried to move closer.

"Now we get the hell out of here," Nox yelled as he jumped over some fallen rubble.

Sangur followed him with some reluctance. "Run from a fight like this?" He asked voice wheezing. Nox could tell he was struggling not to let the red haze take over and let the bloodlust drive him. "Let us kill them!"

"I am not going to help you with a horde like this. We are going now. You can kill the ones that follow us when we get away from the others." Nox added a little incentive to make the running more appealing.

Sangur growled with frustration but kept on running after Nox. He struck a Beowolf that wandered too close with his left axe, sending its broken remains flying all over the clearing.

They entered the woods and the sound of fighting started to fade a little. After a few more seconds, Sangur made a complete turn and killed the three Beowolves that had chased after them from the temple. The beasts never knew what hit them and they fell dead before Nox even had a chance to stop to wait for his companion.

Sangur turned from the bloody corpses and walked to Nox, seemingly very displeased that there had been so few of them. "What now?" he asked.

"We were told to return to the cliff after we had retrieved the relic," Nox replied as he inspected the black tower like game piece between the bladed fingers of Dike Talon. They turned to the general direction of the cliff and started running.

"Wait, they wanted us to return to the cliff?" Sangur questioned.

"Yeah. What about it?"

"Well… it was quite high. How do we get back up there? Do we have to climb?"

Nox spared a glance at Sangur. He was making… a rather valid point, no matter how rare such a phenomenon was.

"I don't know. Maybe they have a ladder… An eight hundred foot one. But I am sure they would not make us climb." Nox fell into dreaded silence as he imagined that cursed headmaster sipping his coffee mug before yelling from the top of the cliff 'You will use you own ascending strategy.'

"I damn well hope so," Sangur said.

They ran in silence, before Nox broke the ice. "I was wondering, just theoretically, how fast would you be able to climb a rather large, sharply vertical cliff with, lets say, someone my size hanging from your back?"

Sangur did not have a chance to reply. They bypassed a thick tree and-.

A giant fucking snake straight into the face. The King Tajitsu smashed it head against Sangur, who was was sent flying in the direction they had arrived from faster than Nox could react. With an expression of great confusion on his face, flying Sangur vanished behind the trees. Nox soon heard a loud and violent thud from somewhere behind.

Then the serpent's tail came like a super thick whip and suddenly Nox realized that the ground was now high up in the sky for some reason. Next thing he knew, he made very sudden and very painful acquaintance with a tree that had a surface hard as rock.

His head was ringing and hurting like hell as he picked himself up, cursing all the time. He must have lost at least one third of his Aura from the hit, but the protective force had not been enough to absorb all the pain. "This life is filled with hurt…" he whined as he leaned against the tree and expected to see the King Tajitsu rushing straight at him.

However, the giant snake was already occupied and was not interested in Nox. It appeared the creature had already been engaged with someone and Nox and Sangur had just been unfortunate enough to stumble right into the thick of a fight.

Two figures spun around the two headed snake, avoiding its attacks and attacking the beast in turn. A blonde boy with yellow armor pieces and small twin bladed axes in both hands kept on launching himself at the at the white head of the Grimm. The bladed parts of his weapons shot forward at the ends of wires, like harpoons, allowing the boy to nimbly use them to spin around the snake, dealing damage whenever an opportunity presented itself.

A girl with a teal short hair in blue and brown outfit was engaging the black head. She had a small spiked buckler shield on her left hand and a submachine gun on her right. As Nox watched, the gun turned into a thin bladed sword as the girl jumped and used the spikes of her shield to hang from the black head. She stabbed the sword into the snake's eye, and the serpent let out a shriek of pain.

Nox looked around for Sangur. There was no need for the two of them to join this fight. They should just leave and let the other pair deal with the Tajitsu. As he scanned the trees for Sangur who was nowhere to be seen, he realized something. His Right hand was leaning against the tree, and his left one was empty. He had dropped the relic.

"Shit!" he gasped and looked around him for the black rook. There was no sight of it. Maybe he should have taken a golden game piece instead of a black. A golden one would have been easier to find in the grass.

Nox looked towards the direction they had come from before they had been caught in the crossfire. The snake and the pair fighting it were spinning around all over it. He could not go search for it as long as the fight continued.

"Fuck this shit," Nox growled as he ran back into the woods to search for Sangur, so that the blood maniac could kill the damned serpent.

* * *

The Black head of the snake let out one final hiss before it crashed to the ground. Teale landed on top of it and pushed her sword past the white armor plates into the skull of the Grimm to make sure it would not rise again. One head down, one to go, she thought.

She turned to the remaining white head of beast, that had given up on trying to bite her partner and now just used its head as a maul as it rocked back and forth trying to crush him. Aureolin was doing pretty good job avoiding the brutal attacks, but it was really hard to try to attack the white head that just flailed recklessly around.

She turned her sword into a gun, selected single shot fire mode and took aim. She would pop the snakes eye out as soon as a she had a good shot.

As she moved her leg to steady herself, her boot stepped on something hard and round. He looked down and saw a large black rook at her feet. She bowed down in bewilderment and picked up the chess game piece. What was a Initiation relic doing here just lying in the ground, she wondered.

"Teeaaleee!" Aureolin shouted as the King Tajitsu finally scored a lucky hit. Aureolin was thrown in the air from the force of the strike, escorted by incoherent whine.

Teal quickly slipped the black relic into a pouch that was hanging from belt, right beside a black pawn that already occupied the satchel. Then she rushed in to save Aureolin from the big bad snake that was trying to kill him to death.

* * *

"This is all I managed to take," Orchid said as he showed the black rook piece to Azuhrius. They were standing on the forest line, watching students that were still around the temple finish off the last Grimm stragglers. Some youngsters had already vanished into the forest and were heading back to the cliffs to complete the Initiation.

Azuhrius had a stern look on his face and he seemed to think about what to do next.

Orchid fondled the game piece in his hands, waiting to see if Azuhrius had the next course of action ready. When Azuhrius did not say anything, Orchid decided to offer his suggestion. "We could attack the ones who took the black pawn and take the relic from them," he said helpfully.

Azuhrius turned to look at Orchid, a sudden gleam in his eye. "You know who has the black pawn?" he inquired with serious voice.

"Yeah." Orchid had seen which pair took the contested game piece from its pedestal. He had considered attacking them and claiming it then and there, but Azuhrius had told him not to act without consulting. "Those two over there," he said as he pointed with his finger.

A pitch black haired girl in equally dark vest and sport pants, paired with tall brown haired boy with a short green cape covering his otherwise brown leather outfit. They were jogging towards the tree line about hundred meters from Orchid and Azuhrius.

"You are sure they have it?" Azuhrius asked for confirmation.

"I saw the boy take it. I am absolutely sure."

"Then we have to move quickly." Azuhrius started sprinting after the pair, and Orchid easily kept pace, barely a step behind.

"What are we going to do exactly?" Orchid asked as they raced through the forests woods.

Azuhrius smirked. "I need you to locate the closest Ursa for us."

* * *

The white half of the Tajitsu died as four pair of axes hacked through its neck and skull. Aureolin jumped away as the dead snake began to collapse to the ground, but the boy with twin chainaxes kept on beating the head of the creature even as it crashed lifelessly to the forest floor. The boy seemed _a little_ pissed about how the serpent had by pure chance happened to smash him across the forest as it had fought against Teale and her partner. The creature had perished quickly once the boy had returned chainaxes roaring, anger in his eyes and growling something unclear about blood and skulls.

Teale walked to the dead beast on top of which the boy stood, having finally stopped beating the dead snakes skull in. "Hey. Thanks for the help with the Tajitsu," she said with the cheery tone. Aureolin walked to her, panting from the effort it had taken to kill the raging snake. "Yeah…" pant' "Thanks a lot," pant pant.

The boy turned to look at them. There was a small amount of black blood on his massive red breastplate and it released black smoke as it disintegrated. For a moment it seemed like the boy had trouble focussing on them. He was breathing heavily and his mouth gaped a little as air flew through it. Then he seemed like he finally grasped what was happening around him and his gaze cleared.

He jumped down from the top of corpse and landed right next to Teale, so close that she instinctively took two steps back as her polite smile wavered for a second. He was taller than either of Teale or Aureaolin. Teale was not even level with his neck. He had a feeling of brutal fighter hanging around him. A brawler. He seemed someone who you could always find where fighting was thickest. "Good kill," he said without courtesies as he put away his red chainaxes and let them hang from his back.

"It… Sure was," Aureaolin said, still panting.

Teale was about to inquire about the teammate of the tall boy, when a yell from behind her interrupted her intentions.

"Sangur!"

Teale turned and saw a super pale and black haired boy standing some distance away near the tree line. Teales attention was drawn to his strange legs. Are _those metallic talons at the end of his feet?_

"Come here!"

The boy who Teale presumed to be Sangur started jogging in the direction without saying another word to her or Aureolin.

"I lost the relic when the damned Grimm struck me. Help me to find it. It is somewhere around here," the pale boy said as he looked around and motioned with his hands that were covered in sharp clawed weapons.

Teale heard the boy, even though it seemed like the boy had not wanted to involve her or Aureolin. She then remembered what she had picked up in the thick of a battle. Her hand was drawn to her belt satchel.

"Hey, have you guys lost something!" She exclaimed.

Both of the boys turned to her. The shorter one glared at her with the blackest of the black eyes. "Maybe we have. What's it to you?" the boy shot back with a bit of hostility.

 _Hey, I am helping you out here. Would it kill you to be a bit nicer._ She thought exasperatedly.

"I found a black chess piece on the ground when we were fighting the Tajitsu. Does that sound familiar?"

The boy's metallic talons (the ones in his hands, not his feet) twitched a little as the boy squeezed his hands lightly. "Then could you give it back to us?"

Teale was a little offended. The boy almost seemed like he was expecting her to refuse to return their Initiation relic. She did not look that unfriendly, did she? This boy did not seem to have much faith in other people. How unfortunate.

"I would not mind at all," Teale said with a friendly smiling. She reached into the pouch hanging from her belt that had the two relics inside. Her hand grabbed the closest one and she threw the relic in the air for them to catch in a motion that was suppose to be relaxing. She hoped it did not come off as impolite, like she did not want to approach them. Though the thought of approaching the pair did unnerve her a little, she had to admit to herself.

The taller boy who had helped to kill the Tajitsu grabbed the black relic from the air. He nodded simply to Teal before the the two of them started to move out without even thanking her.

As the two boys got further away, she could barely hear the one who had catched the relic say to the other one how he would be the one to carry important relics in the future.

"Well, shall we head out too?, Teale asked Aureaolin who had finally stopped panting.

"Lead the way," he said and the the two of them started to run towards the cliff.

* * *

Everything had went pretty smoothly. They had retrieved their relic and were on their way back to the cliffs. Oliver was pretty sure they would be one of the first ones to return with a chess piece, which hopefully would guarantee a good grade for him and his partner. Oliver had estimated that they would reach the base of the cliff any minute now. He was little worried though. He hoped they would not have to climb back up there. He would have voiced his concern to Ciara, who was running next to him, but she was not much of a talker. Oliver hoped she would open up a bit in time, otherwise it might be hard to work with her as a teammate.

There was a sudden bang echoing from somewhere close, but before Oliver could react to it in any way, a spinning Ursa Major came flying through forest straight at him. He managed to utter a short "Wha-" before the giant bear smashed right into him with terrifying force. He was sent sprawling for a long distance over the forest floor, before he finally slowed to a halt.

He rose to sit and tried to banish the stars that were drifting across his vision. He wondered what his brothers would say when they heard he had been hit by a flying Ursa during his second day at Beacon. "What just happened..." he said as he turned to watch around. Huge red eyes of the Ursa Major stared back at him from his right, barely a hand's distance away. "Aah," he squeaked heroically.

The Ursa raised its enormous pawn, and its white claws promised a world of pain. Oliver reached for his waist for his weapons, but his hands grabbed only the leather straps that normally housed his twin blades. Great, he thought. The Ursa had managed to disarm him with its unusual attack. _Mental note to self: Ursai are fast and capable of performing masterful disarming attacks. Masterminds of the Grimmkind._

The huge Grimm slashed with its enormous limb, but Oliver was snatched away from the strikes path just at the last moment. Someone swooped in, grabbed him around his abdomen and saved him from the beasts attack.

Both of them flew through the air by a wire launched from the weapon of his saviour, who swung them up into a large tree with wizened bark near by. They landed on a thick branch, and Olver heard a mechanical whir as a grappling hook was reeled back into the weapon. The one who had helped him did not release Oliver, but kept on holding him from his belt. Oliver assumed they were badly balanced on the branch or something. Finally the person released Oliver and he moved away along the branch.

"Sorry about that. We did not know there was someone in the way when we launched the Ursa," Said a blue haired boy wearing what looked like a military uniform. "Fortunately I managed to snatch you out of the way just in time."

"Well, thanks for that," Oliver said as he stretched out. "The save, not the airborne Ursa."

"Yeah, sorry again. I we will try to aim away from others next time."

There were painful growls echoing around. Oliver turned to look and saw Ciara and unfamiliar boy he assumed was the blue haired guy's pair tear the big black bear apart. Her vicious looking spear and the boys cutlass ravaged the Grimm easily and without mercy. The Ursa Major never stood a chance.

"Well, at least you helped to clean up the mess," Oliver retorted as Ciara impaled her spear into the black and white head of the creature, silencing its cries of agony.

"That was the polite thing to do," the boy said next to him as he adjusted his weapon. It was a very bulky and brutal looking gun with a big rifle scope and very large barrel that ended in an even larger suppressor. Oliver would have not been surprised if it fired miniature rockets instead than bullets.

The two of them dropped down from the tree and regrouped with their respective companions. Ciara and the boy who wore elaborate outfit of black, white and purplish parts were just staring at one another next to the Ursas lightly smoking corpse. Neither of them said a word and they just silently turned to oliver and the blue haired boy when they approached.

"Well, we seem to be done here. I think we should be on our way," the boy said next to Oliver as his silent friend walked to him while Ciara took Oliver's side.

After a nod, Oliver reached out his hand. "The name's Oliver", he said as he shaked hands with his new acquaintance. "She is Ciara."

"I am Azuhrius, and this is Orchid," was the reply as the boy introduced them.

"I will see you around," Oliver said as he waved his hand and started to jog away, silent Ciara in tow.

"Yeah, see ya," Azuhrius replied as they diverted away from each other. It seemed like Azuhrius and this Orchid guy were not in a hurry.

When they had ran for a few meters, Oliver was surprised as Ciara spoke out.

"Your pouch it open," she said in monotone voice.

Oliver looked down at his belt and saw that she was right. He hurriedly put his hand in it, but fortunately his hand met the black Initiation relic. He looked at it for a moment, frowning just a bit. He had thought he had taken a black pawn piece, but it seemed he had mistaken. Well, he was not a exactly a chess player or anything, he thought as he stored the black rook safely away.

* * *

 _How? How did this happen?_ Azuhrius could not do anything else than ask that question from himself again and again. He had seen the boy and the girl take the black pawn. He was sure he had not mistaken. He had exchanged his rook relic for the other pawn without any trouble. They had executed everything right and there was nothing else they could have done. Yet they had failed to secure the teammates Azuhrius had planned.

"Teale Omicron, Aureolin Agar, Ciara Marsus, Oliver Magnolio," headmaster Ozpin said to the microphone that amplified his voice for all to hear. The summoned four people marched to the stage while the applauds to the previous team calmed down. The four of them stood there in a row like all the others who had completed the Initiation before them. "The four of you retrieved the black rook pieces."

Azuhrius could see Teale flinch just a bit when she heard the word _rook._ Azuhrius wondered more than ever what in the Warp had happened with the relics. He had seen Teale pick the black pawn with his own eyes. He had seen it!

"From this day forward the four of you will work together as... team TACO."

People applauded. Azuhrius clapped too, but only as an unenthusiastic reaction. How? _How?!_ Was the Architect of Fate behind this?

"Lead by… Teale Omicron."

The girl smiled nervously, but did not let the responsibility push her back. The newly created team TACO left the stage, and Ozpin called the next four people to come forward. These people were the ones who had retrieved the white rook relics.

"-Team JNPR. Lead by… Jaune Arc."

Azuhrius managed just barely to grab his jaw before it hit the floor. _HOW!?_ And he was not thinking about the black pawns at that moment.

The blonde boy himself didn't look much less surprised as Azuhrius. The newly appointed leader was then brutally smashed to the floor when his teammate Pyrrha Nikos hit him without warning. Maybe she had wanted to be the leader.

 _What the hell is that old man thinking? Why would you make someone like him the leader of the team? Maybe you should seriously consider retiring from the position of the headmaster._

Team JNPR returned from the stage and finally it came to _their_ turn.

When Azuhrius approached stage with his three companions as Ozpin started to call out their names, he was suddenly attacked by growing dread. If someone like Jaune Arc could be made team leader, who else? Azuhrius did not suddenly consider it to be beyond the old man to make even that uncommonly young scythe girl a leader of her team, despite her age and inexperience. Was his leadership position in danger?

"Azuhrius Lernaean, Sangur Calvarie, Orchid Sonus, Nox Deimos."

The four of them stopped and arranged themselves into a row like all the others before them, or maybe just a bit wider. Orchid was standing on the right flank, and Azuhrius was standing between him and the progeny of the VIIIth who was watching them from the corner of his black eye. Sangur was beyond Nox holding the the left side of the formation. Azuhrius and Nox had an unspoken but mutual understanding that Orchid and Sangur should not be next to each other.

There was a great difference compared to all the other groups that had come before them. The tension was thick in the air. They were on their guards, seemingly keeping a steady pose but ready to act. The four of them almost seemed like they were ready to attack each other from the slightest of provocation. The black eyes never left Azuhrius to look at the headmaster. Orchid and Sangur were very unnervingly silent and motionless. Azuhrius prayed that they could get through this without any problems.

"The four of you retrieved the black pawn pieces. From this day on you will work together as... team ASON."

There was of course mandatory applause, but Azuhrius did not hear it. His thought were strictly on the matter of this teams leadership position. If Ozpin only knew what a bad choice could cause.

"Lead by…"

Maybe Azuhrius was just imagining it, but the dramatic pause seemed just a tad longer than any with any other team before them. He held his breath.

"Azuhrius Lernaean."

 _Thank the Gods!_ Azuhrius was so relieved. Maybe all was not lost after all.

Nox was glaring at him with even greater intensity. Azuhrius could feel his palpable anger, but fortunately the pale boy neither said or did anything.

The four of them made their way from the stage and joined the larger crowd.

Azuhrius felt the impact of his failure to secure the team he had wanted fade away, and in its place a new determination started to build up. He would make this work. He did not know if this was the work of the Gods or just a very strange series of strange events, but he would work his way from here with the cards he had been dealt. He would not fail and let these two ruin everything. They would be made to see reason again. The team ASON would not break down.

* * *

 **And so the Initiation is over, and the Teams have been formed.** **TACO comes from TerrACotta, if you were wondering.**

 **Remember when I said at the beginning of this chapter that** **there would be cake?**

 **I lied.**

 **As an compensation, head into my DevianArt profile of the same name, where you can see the RWBY style poster for the Team ASON I have made. More info in the description of the picture. If you don't have DevianArt profile, you can just say in a review, who of the four would you like to see a full picture of first.**

 **Leave a Review, if you feel it in your heart, and have a nice day.**


	7. Chapter 7

**A significant milestone has been reached. The review section of this story now has a second page. My favor among the Gods is growing, I can feel it. Lets keep up with harnessing the power of the reviews so that I may one day be blessed with the the ultimate reward.**

* * *

 **Chaos is the Prize Chapter 7**

"So…" That was all Azuhrius could say at that moment. He had not planned this at all. He was not sure how to proceed from here. He was not even sure there were viable ways to proceed from here.

The four of them were in their dorm room that had been provided after the Initiation finishing ceremony. Four Legionnaires of the Adeptus Venatores were in this room, divided into two pairs that just stared at each other with tension thick in the atmosphere. Every single one of them had their weapons on hand, held ready in case diplomacy failed miserably. Azuhrius held Stalker in his lap, barrel pointing away from the the other pair, trying to seem as harmless as possible, but one of his hands was still firmly on the trigger.

Azuhrius was sitting on one of the four beds of the room, closest one on the right side of window. Orchid was standing on his left, next to the bed. The Legionnaire of the IIIrd Legion fiddled his fingers along edge of his cutlass almost playfully. His pink eyes danced between the two people across from them, ever vigilant for the smallest indication of aggression.

Nox was sitting on the bed directly opposite of Azuhrius, staring with black and suspicious eyes. His lightning claws pushed against the bed with clawed fists on his sides, like he was just about to jump up from the bed.

Sangur was standing most tensely of the four, mirroring Orchid where Nox was mirroring Azuhrius. The Progeny of the XIIth legion had his chainaxes in his hands that were held firmly on his sides, hanging the axes towards the floor. Azuhrius knew that if this meeting was going to end violently, it would almost certainly start from the Blood God servant's initiation. Therefore it was best not give him any reason to get agitated.

Azuhrius focused on Nox. They were the most sensible ones in the room and it was they who would do the important talking. Sangur and Orchid would most likely follow anything they came up with. "Now, let me make this clear. I did not arrange this to happen. I did not try to form this team." Azuhrius was not sure if Nox believed him or not, but the pale boy did not say anything. Azuhrius continued. "But since the events have lead to this, I think it would be important for us to get along." Azuhrius watched for reaction from everybody.

Orchid and Sangur showed no reaction as they just stared at one another.

Nox made subtle huff and his lips twisted mockingly. "Are you saying we should just accept this and live a happy school life together?" he said snidely.

"Well, simply said, yes. There is not really other options if we all want to remain here. I am sure no one wants us to come to blows."

""Speak for yourself"", Orchid and Sangur both said in such perfect synchronization that is was kind of scary.

"We are not enemies," Azuhrius said firmly, trying to get through to the standing pair. "There is no reason for us to fight. We are all Legionnaires here. We are all from Terra. That means something, to me at least, and it should mean something to you too." Maybe Azuhrius was exaggerating a little and was not completely honest, but he was willing to say whatever it took to get him results.

Now Nox let out an amused snicker. "I think I expressed it to you before, but do you think we honestly give a shit about Terra?"

Azuhrius noticed Nox did not continue to mock Gods like he had when the two of them had talked for the first time. He very quickly glanced at Sangur. Azuhrius realised it was because Sangur almost certainly still followed the path of the Blood God, and Nox did not want to voice his opinion about Sangur's patron.

"We are all Terrans, united under the Pantheon. We are all brothers-" Azuhrius was not able to finish as Nox cut him off.

"You are no brother of mine. All my brothers are dead because of Terra. You can spare me from your sales pitch."

 _Dammit! And I had so many clever and inspiring things to say._

"There is no way I am joining you guys again. We chose to leave and that is final. You cannot convince me with anything that comes out of your snake tongued mouth. Even the old 'Join Chaos, we have cookies' is not not going to change anything."

"Well, to be honest," Azuhrius said sorrowfully. "Things have not been going very well lately, so we had to let go of the cookie policies."

"What!? Well in that case you have absolutely nothing." Nox said "You and the Dark Gods have nothing to offer us."

"Chaos has always something to offer," Azuhrius replied silently, but he recognized this road was leading nowhere. He did not truly believe he could turn them back immediately. It would take time to erode Nox's conviction, but when he finally gave in, Sangur would most likely follow where Nox went.

"Well, I understand. I won't try to force you to go against your will. But even if you guys don't want to have ties with Terra, our situation does not change."

Nox's eyes squinted just a little, and Azuhrius knew he was seriously listening. Nox seemed like he lacked many options so he was keeping his eyes open for a good enough compromise. Azuhrius did not know Nox and Sangur's situation and why they were here, but somehow it seemed like they might not have a say in the mater.

At that moment Azuhrius knew he had them. If Nox was willing to listen, victory had already been achieved. Azuhrius knew talking and persuasion. He could adjust to Nox and find a solution that would suit both of them. Now he had to just bargain to find the resolution. "We are a team in this academy. Let us work as such," Azuhrius set out plainly.

He could see Nox did not like the words so he elaborated, wording things so that Nox could accept them.

"Let us form an alliance of convenience. Demanded by the circumstances. I am sure we can tolerate each other so we can all coexist in this academy."

The black eyes revealed that Azuhrius was onto something.

"You don't have to have anything to do with Terra, if you so choose. You will be dealing purely just the two of us as unavoidable associates. We will all keep things hidden from other people of this school, and commonly promise not to reveal anything to outsiders."

This was going well, Azuhrius could see it. Now he had to just finish without pushing them off. He put away his weapon as a sign of good will. "I am not asking for you to trust us or anything like that, I understand things that well. But that does not mean we have to make things difficult for all of us. I am sure you won't want to deal with outsiders anymore then we do, so think of the bright side. With us here, you don't have to deal with some miserable members in your team."

That last thing seemed to be what drove things home for Nox. The pale lips had a modest corpse grin on them.

The legionnaire of the VIIth was silent for a while and seemed to think deeply. "This does not make us friends," he finally said and Azuhrius smiled internally in victory. "Don't get on our way or try to scheme anything. This is just a temporary truce, nothing more. Don't come too close or we will send you back to the Eye to meet those Gods you seem to like so much." Nox moved to the end of his bed to lay against the wall next to window. "So we are now all one big happy team until we brutally murder each other," he said snarkily. "Just fucking great." He focused on Azuhrius with a glare. "just remember that our ties have come undone. I will not be used. If I feel like this truce is not worth it, it will end very unpleasantly for you."

"Or you…" Orchid said, and Azuhrius wanted to slap him. Fortunately Nox paid no heed to the words of the drug addict. Orchid sat down on to the bed, not letting go of his sword.

Sangur was the only one left standing. "Are we not going to kill each other right now?" he asked and the disappointment was very audible in his voice.

"Not right now," Nox said as he crossed his hands against his head. When Sangur seemed like his anger was not calming down, Nox added "We can always kill them later, don't worry. Remember: Blood God cares not when the blood flows."

Sangur's agitation was partly replaced with confusion as he looked at Nox. "Wasn't it 'Blood God cares not _where_ the blood flows'?"

"No, it is definitely _when_ ," Nox said confidently

Sangur kept on muttering to himself but sat meekly down on the bed next to Nox's metallic talons.

"I am glad we have come to agreement," Azuhrius said. "There is only one more thing that I would like to ask you about."

The pale face turned and the black eyes scanned with a mix of curiosity and suspicion. "And what might that be?"

"Why are you here? I don't want to be nosy but this does not seem like a place that you would want to be in. How did you end up in Beacon Academy?"

He was not really expecting Nox to reveal the truth, not at least without the knowledge of why Azuhrius and Orchid were here. The question had to be asked at some point and he could wait for the answer to come eventually.

"Why are you here?" Nox asked bluntly, not surprisingly. "You tell us first and we might consider responding in kind."

Azuhrius was ready to reveal some parts if it meant he could get the answer about Nox and Sangur's reasons. "We are here to scout and evaluate, would it be viable to infiltrate Legionnaires in the future to Hunter Academies for training. That could help us to produce more proficient Venatores than we are currently able." It was true, that was one thing that Azuhrius hoped to find out by doing this. There were however also other reasons that he did not deem necessary to share.

Nox let out a loud snicker. He seemed genuinely amused by what he had just heard. "You guys are really getting desperate if you have come up with something like this," he said with a mocking grin. "I can't believe you guys would actually think this as a serious option."

 _I did not expect someone like you to see the merit._

"Well, there are those that don't see it as a good thing," Azuhrius said.

Nox recovered from his laugh and stared again with watchful eyes. "Don't think I believe you just told me the whole truth. One can't get the whole truth from a XXth Legionnaire. I know there is more than you are telling me."

Nox was of course correct and his suspicion served him well in this situation. Azuhrius did not show reaction to the words of the pale boy, but proceeded to the next matter.

"I told you why we are here, now it's your turn."

Nox did not look like he wanted to answer. "Let's just say that I have an arrangement with the headmaster."

Azuhrius was surprised, but did not show it. "What kind of arrangement?"

The pale boy send him a guarding glare. "That is between us and Ozpin," Nox said with deep and finitive tone.

This seemed like a matter that Azuhrius would need time to get to the bottom of.

They sat in silence and his attention was drawn to the weapons in Nox's hands. Those masterfully crafted lightning claws had been passed down throughout decades in the VIIIth legion, and even outside of it, but never for long. There were not many weapons as old that still were usable. Azuhrius felt just the tiniest sting of jealousy of not having Legion relic like Nox. His Stalker was not new, but it certainly had been crafted long after the Heresy. He would not have complained to have such a treasure of a weapon, even if it did not come from his own Legion.

"Your weapon," Azuhrius said as he nodded at the claws.

Nox closed and opened the claws as he responded. "What about it?"

"Where is the rest of Dike?" Azuhrius inquired.

The wielder of the ancient talons was silent for a moment, his face twisting a little. "With Ozpin," he finally said with a hint of scorn.

Neither of them said words for a long while, and the silence was only broken when Orchid opened his damned mouth.

"I kill better than you…" He stated to Sangur.

"OKAY THAT WAS SO IT! LET'S GO RIGHT HERE AND NOW!

"FUCKING BRING IT, BRUTE!

Azuhrius and Nox hurled themselves forward to stop their respective companions from destroying their dorm room.

* * *

Orchid opened his eyes as the morning sun shined against the curtains. It took barely a second for him to focus his attention to the bed on the other side of the room. The sleeping form of the blood savage lay there, motionless but for a slow and steady rising of his chest as he breathed. He was so vulnerable, and Orchid was facing a great temptation to strike him down in his sleep. If only he had had his sword.

He shifted his gaze to a large metal chest next to the door, that was tied in with chains that were riddled with small bells. Azuhrius had produced it from somewhere last night before the four of them had gone to bed. All their weapons were inside of it, because nobody had agreed to sleep in a same room if they were all armed. So they had closed their dangerous instruments away, so more willingly than others. Azuhrius had suggested they would simply storage their gear in the locker rooms like everybody else, but that idea had quickly been dismissed as no one really wanted to let their weapons be absent from their vicinity. The machine legged nightling had even said something about how it was very unwise to seal their weapons into a container that could be operated with unreliable and damned devices like scrolls.

As Orchid raised to sit on his bed, he noticed he was not only one awake. Azuhrius was still soundly asleep on the bed left side of his, and Sangur was was also totally out on Orchid's right. But the occupant of the bead beyond the brute's was sitting on top of his blanked against the wall.

The black eyes turned to meet the pink ones.

"You rose up early," Orchid commented.

Nox looked a bit annoyed by the words. "I never leyed down," he replied.

Orchid was very surprised. "You did not sleep at all?"

At first Nox looked like he was not sure weather to tell, but soon he seemed to decide that it did not matter that much. "No, I did not," he replied with a slight hint of frustration.

"Is that a thing of the VIIIth? That you don't require sleep? I was not aware." Orchid did not remember ever hearing about that back at Terra.

"No, this is a unique condition as far as I know. I have been like this since shortly before the last breach."

Orchid was intrigued. "You don't sleep at all?"

Nox shook his head. "I still require sleep, not just so often. I have made a routine to stay awake most of the week, and then sleep through the entire weekend."

"That is a quite a blessing the Gods have bestowed upon you," Orchid said, truly admiring such a gift.

"A blessing?" Nox made an angry huff. "It is fucking terrible. My body recovers if I am just idle, but somehow the fatigue keeps building up. And it is just torment." Nox gave Orchid a vicious glare. "And it is not fucking nice, you pain freak!"

Orchid had to admit that such suffering had interested him.

"I want to rest, but I know if I just lay down and sleep away, after I wake I will not be able to sleep for a long time. And the fatigue that builds up is just pure agony. It took long time for me to find an tolerable balance, but it still pains me every night. The fridays are the worst. A week of staying awake behind, but not yet time for sleep." Nox kept a pause. "So It is not a damn blessing from the Warp Gods. They have set me up with a fucking world of misery."

Orchid was silent as he did not know what to say. He would have to share this all with Azuhrius later.

Nox rose from his bed angrily. "I will go get some breakfast." He kicked Sangur's bed, and the big guy woke from his slumber with a rapid sit up, mumbling sleepily.

"hhmlh… blood…" he articulated wisely.

"Keep your eyes on the weapons as I go get us something to eat. Don't kill the Slaaneshi queer, the Slaaneshi queer, or especially the Slaaneshi queer. And maybe leave the other guy alone as well, but it's not mandatory." Nox walked to the door. "I will be right back."

He closed the door behind him, leaving Orchid and Sangur behind to have a staring contest.

* * *

Sangur was suffering, and he could not escape. He was stuck just being there while the torment went on. He could deal with the pain that came with fighting, it was a fact of war. He considered himself able to endure anything that would not kill him, but this was something he had trouble with coping. This was so much more and worse than a suffering of the body. He wanted it to end.

"-as a hero," Port finished and bowed, causing Sangur let out a gasp of relief. He would never had believed that mere words could cause such an excruciating feeling, but here he was, sitting in at the far end of a classrooms and considering knocking himself out to preserve himself from the tales of the mustached teacher.

Nox was sitting next to him, but the pale and black eyed boy just sat there, looking vacantly in front of him like a statue. At that moment, Sangur was jealous of Nox's ability not to do, want or care about anything.

Sagur liked tales of battle and trial. He even thought that such stories were the only ones worth telling. Se he had trouble understanding how could the professor make it sound so boring and totally devoid of spirit that it caused him to feel such agony. _Where was the glorious bloodshed and the blood igniting descriptions of the waging battle? Where was the brutal but strengthening strife and sensation of the kill? Where?!_

Sangur was trembling just so slightly from contained frustration and anger he felt for the ear rubbish he had been forced to listen. This man was no warrior. He should not talk like that about the altar of battle.

"The moral of the story: A true huntsman must be honorable," Port continued with a confident voice. "A true huntsman must be dependable. A true huntsman must be strategic, well educated and wise."

The joke of a warrior just kept on going. _Somebody needs to let him out of my misery._

"So, who among you believes themselves to be the embodiment of these traits?"

A girl with white hair from the front row tables of the raising amphitheater like lecture room raised her hand instantly without hesitation. "I do, sir!" There was conviction in her voice, but she looked frail and weak.

A silent crude snort escaped Sangur's mouth. It was beyond him how someone could react so strongly to such meaningless words.

"Well then..." Port said as he eyed the girl that had responded to him. "Let's find out. step forward and face your opponent." The professor gestured at a large metal cage that was at the edge of the room.

Sangur could suddenly fear beastly sound from inside the the small prison. There was some foul creature inside. He was almost shocked by what the teacher had just did. He had granted this pathetic girl a chance to make battle against whatever was confined in the cage. Sangur could not understand. He wanted to be the one to test his strength.

 _The White Witch steps forward but I push her aside as I move past the sitting brats. She lets out a surprised and angry cry but I pay her no mind. I reach front of the room where there is the clear space. The Red Twins are held in my fists, ready for bloodshed. The False Warrior is taken aback and say that it is the White Witch's moment of combat. I tell him to open the cage. He protest. I tell him again, this time louder. He backs down. He retreats and raises his instrument of war, ready to strike at the cage. The iron seal is shattered and the Soulless One emerges. I have not seen many Soulless Ones like that before. They seem to be more common in this part of the world. It rushes at me with its tusks raised and eyes full of fury. I answer in kind and meet it at the center for the clash. We smash into one another, but the Soulless Ones momentum is greater. My Soul Guard endures the attack. I let the left Twin out of my hand momentarily. I am pushed back but I have one of its tusk grasped firmly. We pull to a stop and the right Twin comes down on my opponent. The Soulless One's armor is damaged by the hit, but it endures my strike. The Soulless One tries to break free of me but I am relentless. It is a pathetic being that does not compare to me. With an extension of force from my left hand I raise it from the ground. I turn it in the air with a swift motion and smash it back down with great force. Its vulnerable abdomen is exposed. I strike with the right Twin. The weapon bites into my opponent with ease and ravages its flesh. I raise and bring down the Twin over and over again. The blood is released from the Soulless One and paints me. It is foul viscera, uncomparable to the that of true warriors. But the Blood God cares not. All blood is welcomed. The Soulless One is slain and starts to break down. It is gone. There is no place in the Great Ocean for it and its kin. I can almost hear the Neverborn laughing at the destruction of their natural enemy. I bow down to pick up the left Twin. It is unbloodied and thirsty. The False Warrior says something but I don't hear it. The Red Haze is burning through my veins. The bloodlust fills me. As the False warrior approaches, I turn to face him. Maybe he sees the fury in my eyes, but if he does, he is too slow to react. I disarm him with my first blow. He lets out a panicked shout. The second strike meets with his neck. I can feel his Soul Guard draining away as the Red Twins strip it from him. He falls down and I continue raining my blows. The Soul Guard does not hold against my constant assault for long. It is shattered and the Twins finally feast together. The others yell and scream around me. The False Warrior lays dead and broken at my feet. I turn my eyes to them. More blood for the Blood God. They are unarmed. The Twins roar. I clash into them. The White Witch is the first to go. The blood flows in free rivers._

The white haired girl finally managed to slay the Grimm by impaling her rapier into its stomach. The beast let out a final squeak before it fell silent. The fight was over.

Sangrur felt distaste for the girl after watching how it all had played from his seat. The fighting style she used relied on her Semblance way too much. A true warrior did not need such shameful tricks. She was someone who could not face her opponent with just her skills and fighting prowess. She was not a true warrior. She was a weak and cowardly witch. A White Witch.

"Bravo! Bravo! It appears we are indeed in the presence of a true huntress in training," professor Port declared.

Sangur could not look at it all anymore.

Port dismissed the class and the students started to drift away.

"Come on," Nox said indifferently as he stood up and started heading for the door.

Sangur followed wordlessly after him.

* * *

"Is she right? Did you make a mistake?" the redhead brat asked from the headmaster, looking quite sorrowful.

"That remains to be seen," Ozpin replied in a true headmaster way, not giving an definitive answer.

Nox waited for the girl who had shot him with a bottle rocket on the first day to scamper away before he approached the professor armed with a cane and a coffee mug. One of them was a weapon of capable of causing supreme havoc, and Nox had yet to be figure out which one.

Ozpin saw him coming and nodded in greeting. "Hello, Nox. How are you doing?" he greeted with a same tone he had spoken with the red girl just before.

The words Ozpin said to him made Nox uncomfortable in a peculiar way. He talked to him like he was just a another one of his students, and Nox was not sure how to feel about that. The headmaster's eyes were relaxed, but it felt like they saw so much, and held much knowledge behind them. Nox did not like when people knew things about him, and even if Ozpin did not know even nearly all about him, he did enough to make Nox wary in his company. The silver haired man felt so… adult to Nox. Few people made Nox feel that way, even if they were much older than him. Ozpin made him almost feel like a child, and Nox just could not understand it. It made him kinda angry. He was not afraid of Ozpin... but he would not admit even if he was though.

Nox wanted to reply to the greeting with something cutting. "I'm fine", he found himself answering instead. "Or at least almost."

Ozpin raised an eyebrow. "Tell me what's in your mind."

"Would it be possible to get a separate room for just me and Sangur. I really don't feel… _comfortable_ residing in a room with others."

The was a slight pause before the headmaster spoke. "No, I am afraid that is not possible."

 _I knew you would say something like that._

"You must just get to know your new teammates. You will get along given time. Just try to get familiar with them. You are a team now."

There was silent meaningless rumble coming from Nox's mouth.

"It is important to work with new people. Give it time. It believe all will work just fine."

Was Ozpin encouraging him just now? How dare he! Nox would not take this.

"Kay…", Nox took it with his eyes on the ground.

Ozpin walked along, leaving Nox behind to plan his painful demise.

* * *

 **Head over to my DeavianArt profile to see a picture of Azuhrius, even if it without a face. Remember to tell me what you think about it.**

 **Leave a review, if you feel it in your heart, and have a nice day.**


	8. Chapter 8

**It is that nice time of the year, here, have a chapter.**

* * *

 **Chaos is the Prize Chapter 8**

Weiss just could not get the thoughts to leave her mind. The leader of her team was just so completely insufferable and incompetent for the role. She did not deserve to lead them, and definitely not over someone like Weiss herself.

She was going through a shelf in the library, searching for some info that would help her to do her homework better. _Something that a certain unqualified team leader would never do._ She stopped as he found what she was looking for, took it with her, and emerged from between the shelves.

The library was almost empty. it was a first proper day of school so it was understandable. Only people there was some group of first years playing a board game (something she could not herself ever imagine doing in this sanctuary of knowledge), and a one lone blue haired figure sitting by a table.

Weiss remembered him from the time in the cafeteria. What was his name? Azuhrius? Her path brought her closer to the tables and she was able see what he was busy with. He had scroll in his right hand that he was focused on, and several library data pads on the table in front of him. His left hand was holding a chess piece, that he was tabbing against a metallic chessboard next to him. As Weiss watched, he glanced away from his scroll, and placed the piece on the board. Then he picked up another, opposing colored piece, and returned his attention back to the scroll. Weiss looked at the board more closely and from what she could see the board looked like it was in a middle of a game. _Is he playing against himself?_

As she moved forward, she remembered that Azuhrius was the leader of his team. It did not seem exactly fair to her. He was a sensible choice for a the position, so Weiss could not understand why Ozpin had decided to designate someone like Ruby instead of herself as the leader of their team. She could feel her frustration about the matter flare just bit again.

She reached the tables and on a moment's impulse changed her course towards the boy focused on his work. She did not really have any special need to return to her dorm room and share a space with her team leader.

As she stopped at the end of the table, Azuhrius looked up from her scroll to her. "Hey. Can I help you?"

Weiss looked at the chess board. "Hey. Are you playing by yourself?"

Azuhrius glanced at the board, stopping his left hand's movement that was holding one of the game pieces. "Yes I am." He looked back at her. "Do you play chess?"

"I have some skill in the game," she replied curtly. Chess was a popular hobby where she was from. The refined game was popular among the upper class of the Kingdoms. Her sister had seen it as a suitable pastime, and Weiss had enjoyed playing with her.

"Would you be interested to play then?" Azuhrius said.

Well, it is not like she had that much else to do. "I don't want to disturb you if you are in the middle of something."

"It is nothing important. I can do it with my left hand as we play," Azuhrius replied and motioned to the chair across from him.

"Very well then," Weiss said as she took seat opposite of him.

Azuhrius put his scroll down and moved the chess board in a more centric position between them, and after that he started to the place the game pieces in their default positions. "Do you want the black or white?" he asked.

"I will take white."

* * *

Azuhrius moved his black bishop forward. His opponent did not however fall for the bait he had set up.

His scroll laid on the table next to him, completely forgotten. His focus was completely taken by the game. When the Schnee heiress had presented herself, he had resolved that building some connections did not hurt, but he had found her to be more than decent in the game. She was also a completely new opponent, something that came across Azuhrius not too often. He found it quite pleasant to test his mind against completely unfamiliar mind and style. She brought something he had not fully realised he was longing for: challenge.

"And don't even get me started on her demeanor in the class. I have never met someone with as poor attitude as her. The morning class of professor Port was completely tainted by her sitting next to me."

The white haired girl had been complaining about her team leader pretty much the whole time they had played. She did her moves relatively fast, focusing greatly on speaking, and still was able to play really well. She was quite a multitasker.

"I just can't believe of Ozpin could have made her the leader over me," she said.

"I agree," Azuhrius said without removing his eyes from the board. "It should have been you," he said honestly. He had also been very surprised when Ruby Rose had been chosen as the leader, if not as much as he had been with Jaune Arc. Azuhrius seriously questioned Ozpin's decision making when it came to this leader appointing mater.

Weiss nodded heavily. She moved one of her rooks to eat Azuhrius' knight, after which Azuhrius ate it with his bishop in turn. "Totally unbelievable! He should have years of experience in training huntsman and huntresses."

"Maybe he just thought about the team name," Azuhrius voiced his frail theory. "Maybe the leaders are decided mainly by name. He probably just realized that he could just use Ruby's name as a team name and as so he would not have to use much time. He only had some much time to come up with the names for every team between the Initiation and the ceremony, so it does not feel impossible he might have taken the choices that first came to mind." He glanced at her. She looked very irritated by what he had just said. The white haired girl seemed like she was trying not to get convinced by such an cheap theory about the headmaster, but there seemed to be a dreading doubt that stopped her from dismissing it as nonsense.

"Or… " Azuhrius said rubbing his chin as another idea came to his mind. "Maybe there is a different kind of motive for his choices."

"Like what," Weiss said like a shark, challenging that there could be any reasonable ground for her not being the leader.

"Maybe our headmaster though that you team was not in that big of a need of leadership. You might see it if you think about all the teams," He started to elaborate. "Look at for example team ASON and team CRDL. I would dare to say that these teams are in a need of leadership way more than teams like RWBY and JNPR." Azuhrius could not say he was expert in psychological differences and power dynamics between males and females, as Terra did not exactly have gender balance nor unaltered youth minds, but he did not think it was coincidence that all male teams seemed to have more capable leader in charge. And yes, Azuhrius thought he was overwhelmingly better leader that the rest of his team even combined. Especially combined. "Or do you think there will ever be a need for Ruby or Jaune to show their dominance over their team or put in effort to get it to work together?"

Weiss let out a unsatisfied puff, but did not deny the reason in his words. She was definitely not letting go.

"I guess we will see in time how Ozpin's decision carries out," Azuhrius said as he moved his queen forward from behind some pawns. "Check."

* * *

Ruby did not know where she was. She walked forward with unsure steps, regarding her strange surroundings. She felt very insecure because she was unarmed, so she could not wield Crescent Rose for a sense of security. And she could not summon it with her scroll, because when had reached for her smart communication device, she had been shocked to find it totally ruined. The cracked metal pieces were unusable, and they had many slash marks as if something had hatefully trashed the device.

What troubled her most was that she did not remember how she had gotten there. Her last memory had been going to sleep on the Friday night after homework, mind filled with joy for the coming weekend that meant she could sleep for unreasonably long. Next thing she knew she had found herself walking these spooky corridors, clad in her combat skirt rather than her nightwear. Her surroundings really scares her. She was definitely not in the Beacon Academy, as she heavily doubted that the school had such facilities.

She walked on a wide corridor that was made of stone that looked like ruins of some long abandoned place. She had however trouble focusing on the variably ruined stone walls and the roof that had chunks missing, for everything was swathed in blue… Shadow? Smoke? the walls, despite looking like they were made of rock, were made of slowly swirling torrents and shapes of black and dark blue. At one moment they looked solid, only to ripple into nearly unrecognizable mass as soon as she blinked. If she looked away, the walls looked very different when she looked back. Yet they kept their general form of a corridor made of stone. Her mind just could not make sense of it.

She also had noticed that there was absolutely no light source, yet she clearly saw herself and the ominous blue shadow walls. There were other corridors leading away from the one she was treading, but they showed only the same kind of unreasonable hallways that ended on a two way crossroads, as ended the one she was on. She could see the stone/mist wall some distance ahead of her, leaving corridors to the left and right.

A feeling of getting watched was her constant company. She looked around, but there was no hiding places in the corridor that could have hidden a silent watcher. It felt similar to the ting her Aura gave her when there was unseen danger creeping on her, but it was not exactly same. Suddenly she stopped, as a feeling of someone standing right behind him rushed her, like she had heard a sound of a step or a breath take but could not be sure.

Ruby spun on her heels to look to find… no one. There was not a soul in sight, like there had not been as long as she had walked these hallways. She stared back into the direction she had come from, the feeling not letting her go despite her eyes confirming there was no one there. She reached out with her right hand, grasping the air as if to confirm that her eyes were not deceiving her and hiding someone from her mind. Her hand found absolutely nothing. She turned and kept on going.

She walked on for quite a while, not leaving the corridor she had been walking on all along. The end grew closer, but she had trouble measuring how far it was exactly.

Then someone emerged behind a corner on her left. She gasped in a mild surprise, but she was also happy that she had found someone else. She hastened her steps and soon she was standing next to the figure she found she recognized. "Hey," she said trying not to sound too burdened by the strange place. "Do you have any idea where we are, or how to get out of here?"

Dark eyes slowly turned to look at her. He did not reply at once and Ruby wondered is he had heard her.

"Nox? Did you hear me? I said do you know where we are."

The pale boy just kept on looking at her without saying a word. Ruby wondered if he was alright.

"Nox?" she asked again.

After a few more seconds of silence, he finally opened his mouth. "You know what, I really can't stand you."

Ruby was taken aback by the surprising words, as well as the lack of focus in Nox's eyes. It seemed like he was not completely there. He resembled somewhat her uncle when he was drunk (which was often), not fully on the level with the outside world. He seemed a little dreamy.

"You really get on my nerves. Everything you say, everything you do annoys the hell out of me, and I can't just make you go away," Nox said walked couple steps forward to circle Ruby. "You are just so… I don't even know the words for it. Just so… huh." He made some odd facial expressions as he fought with his words.

She started to seriously doubt Nox was drunk. "What do yo-" she managed to utter before Nox flicked his hand to silence her.

"You are just so soft, so weak and pathetic. You people of the kingdoms are so frail and full of shit, you are just so…. Argh." He grunted angrily, his metallic legs scraping against the floor with sharp screeches. "I can't understand how you can be so happy all the time. It really, really gets to me."

Suddenly Nox's right hand lashed out and grabbed Ruby around her neck. He was not tall enough to lift her into air, but he pinned her against one of the walls that indeed felt very, very much like stone.

Ruby was so shocked she did not even put up any resistance. She just helplessly clawed at the arm holding her throat. she tried to speak, to ask what Nox was doing, but he squeezed her throat so firmly she could not send out anything other than panicked gurgles. She could breath, but it certainly was not nice.

"Nox…" She managed to squeal.

"That… innocence." He said it like the word disguted him on some level. "That is a fitting and pathetic name for it. I really can't stand it you know. Let's see if we can rip it to shreds…" Nox retrieved something from behind his back with his free hand.

Ruby glanced down to identify what Nox had in his hand. He seemed to be holding two small guns of black metal. Her eyes widened in shock as she saw the weapons.

Nox forcefully pushed one of the guns to her, and she accepted it when he did not back down. He twisted her arm around the handle of the black revolver, and then he fixed the other gun in his own hand under her jaw. She could feel the cold metal against her skin, and it made her freak even more.

"Nox! What are you doing?!"

Nox smiled at her cruelly, a twisting corpse grin that seemed to enjoy her state. "This is what we are going to do." Nox poked the barrel of his gun slightly against her skull. "I am going to count to ten, and you are going to shoot me before that. If you do not, I will kill you…"

Ruby could not believe what she was hearing, and she was not sure she had heard correctly. She was to kill him or he would kill her? This was pure insanity. "What?!"

"One. Two. Three," Nox began counting silently. He was still holding the gun in his posession firmly against her head.

She squeezed the other gun in her hand, but did not direct it at Nox. She could not do something like that. She had to get Nox back to his senses."Nox! I am not going to shoot you!" she cried out.

"Four. Five."

"Stop! Think about this. You can't do this!"

"Six. Seven." His grin only grew wider as the numbers got bigger. There was something really wrong in his black eyes.

"Nox, Listen to me!" she pleaded, tears falling against her cheeks and onto his hand that grasped beneath her jawline.

"Eight. Nine." his eyes widened.

"Nox..." She whimpered.

"Ten…" There was a click as he pulled the trigger.

Ruby never heard the gunshot, because she woke up in her bed, covered in cold sweat.

* * *

"Atrocious. I can't stand people like him", Pyrrha commented disapprovingly Cardin's behaviour.

The words of the girl brought up Ruby's dream from couple of days ago. It had somewhat bothered her the whole this time. She had of course seen nightmares before, like that one terrifying with the cookie monster in it, but this one just did not leave her alone. It had been such a weird thing to dream about, and all of it had felt so real. Normally she could not remember her dreams that well, but this one was crystal clear in her mind, like it had been something that actually happened very recently. She had been able to sleep just fine the next couple of nights of the weekend, but she just could not forget.

Her eyes drifted to look at the next table over, and finally focused on the back of the boy wearing dark blue hoodie. Sangur was sitting across from him, but the rest of the team ASON was nowhere to be seen. She had not seen him during the weekend, so this monday morning was the first time she had seen Nox since that dream. She wondered if she should just let it be, but when he saw Nox raise and head for the place where food was picked up, she rose from her own seat and went after him with her tray in her hands.

 _It is nothing really, but there is no harm if I just talk to him._ She felt kinda nervous to approach him, as he was not the most pleasant of people, but this should be over soon. After reaching him, she took quickly a deep breath to brace herself, before she opened her mouth. "Morning, Nox", she said as cheerily as she could.

The black haired boy turned to him, a little surprise on his face when he saw who was talking to him. He did not look as grumpy as usual. He seemed kinda rested and calm, like someone who had gotten very good night sleep.

"What do you want?" he asked without answering to her greeting. His eyes were suspicious, but not really angry. He seemed to be on a quite good mood for his standards.

"I… Ehh, How's your day been so far?" _Idiot, what are you doing. Activate how to talk to people subroutines._

"Fine, unless you have come to ruin it with something," the black eyes turned to look at the bacon he was shoveling to his plate.

"Well, that is nice to hear." She cleared her throat just a bit. "Have you had any nice dreams recently?" _Omg, that really sounds awful to say outloud. It feels like I am trying to initiate a small talk with horrible lines. I hate being social with people I don't know._

Nox did not seem to think anything special about what she had just said. "Possibly. By comparison."

"I see. Well, I had this really strange dream this other day," she said.

Nox frowned a little without removing his gaze from his food, apparently not quite understanding where she was going with this.

"Well, in the dream I was in some really strange place. And you were there too..."

Nox almost dropped his plate. He turned his head sharply at stared at Ruby with wide eyes. He looked very baffled, maybe a little angry. And also kinda afraid. Ruby felt like she had really scared Nox out. He honestly looked like he was genuinely afraid of her at that moment.

They just stood there for a while as silence rules between them. People around them went on without paying much mind, chit chatting wordlessly about their own matters.

Then Nox turned on on his metallic heels and marched away hurriedly, leaving Ruby and his plate filled with bacon behind.

A realisation came to Ruby. It felt impossible, but she was quite sure after seeing Nox's reaction. That strange dream she had had, that totally bizarre dream she had seen a couple of days ago. Nox had lived it too.

* * *

"Hey, Sangur," Nox said as he peered at Ruby who was exiting the dining hall.

"What?" Sangur said as he focussed on his corn flakes. The cereal box next to him, where the precious flakes had been in, had been originally covered in soft and happy pictures, so he had painted the whole box red. Nox had no idea where he had gotten the red paint.

"Do you think that the Rose girl is a witch mind?"

Sangur paused spooning in his cereals and looked upwards like he was considering what he he had just heard. "No, she is not," he retorted confidently and continued to massacre the corn flakes.

Not quite convinced, Nox asked "How can you be sure?"

Sangur wiped his chin on his hand and placed the now empty bowl on to his tray. "She wears red," he said as if he had just proven his case with undeniable scientific facts.

Nox gave him an irritated look. "Really? That is where you base your opinion."

"Have you ever seen a witch mind wearing red?" Sangur countered.

Nox let out a half snort. "I have never seen any living witch mind, and neither have you. In case you have not noticed, they have not really been around in quite a while, in Terra at least. I was just wondering if it was possible, just possible, that there are witch minds in other Kingdoms. I know the current Kingdoms are so small that the proximity of the Grimm hinders, but could there be witch minds out there?"

Sangur waved his hand dismissively. "Witch minds are long gone, and a good thing they are. All there is left is this Semblance bullshit, but that is not even nearly the same thing. The Red Reaper is not a witch, you can be sure of that. You don't have to worry about her."

Nox was still not completely convinced, but he let the matter rest for now. It did not seem necessary to share his dream with Sangur. He would just watch out for the red girl in the future. "If you say so," was all he said.

* * *

The dorm room of the team was silent of talk as its four occupants minded their own business. It was not that they especially did not want to talk to each other, but they simply had no reason to. They were all doing different things, in the opposing corners of the room, and with their weapons within arm's reach.

Azuhrius was using his scroll to catch up on what little was happening outside of Beacon, and also doing his homework, like the dutiful and pristine student he was. Unlike everyone else in the room, without mentioning any names, he saw a benefit in the school work. It provided information and expertise, and one could never have too much of that. Azuhrius considered it as a bonus of their infiltration here. He could not wait until he could get back to plunder the academy library some more.

Sangur was sitting on the floor, leaning his back against the end of his bed. He was fiddling with is weapon, but Azuhrius was not sure that he was actually doing anything to it. He was not cleaning or maintaining it or anything. Maybe he just liked handling weapons, as a stress reliever or something.

Nox was hanging from the ceiling upside down, reading a comic he had found somewhere. His metallic talons were latched on the soft material of the cealing, and he looked not that much different than if he had been standing on the ground, although he was upside down, his hair was pointing downwards, and he had much better stature. He had been like that for quite awhile now, yet there was absolutely no sign of him feeling unwell or his blood rushing into his head, which was not any less pale than normal. Nox was reading the comic relatively intensely. Azuhrius was pretty sure Nox had never read one before, although he might also be completely wrong.

Orchid was sitting in the corner, a big box open in front of him. There was a chemical tint in the air around him, as he was messing with drugs, refining and mixing them like the drug fiend he was. Azuhrius had made sure Orchid hid his little portable lab well. He did not even want to think about what would happen if somebody found out he had enough substances to kill everybody in this building of overdose. With the exception of himself, of course.

Azuhrius concluded sending a message with coded content to one of the operatives of the Hydra Network, and after that another matter came to his mind. "There is a field trip to Forever Fall coming, is there not?" Everybody else in the room turned their eyes on him.

"What about it?" Nox asked as he made just a slight swinging motion as he hang from the ceiling.

"I was just wondering if you guys were going."

"I am not going," Sangur said gruffly.

Azuhrius raised an eyebrow. "How so?"

"Professor Oobleck is having me do all the assignments I have not done. He arranged me to be excused from the trip so I could waste my time doing that instead," he said with a rough pout. "I would have liked to go there again."

"You have been in the Forever Fall forest?" Azuhrius inquired.

"Yeah. Last weekend."

"What? Really? I was kind of wondering where both of you were. Nox said he was sleeping somewhere safe but I had no idea that where you had gone. What were you doing there?"

"I was killing Grimm," Sangur said as he shrugged.

Azuhrius looked questionably at Nox.

"I made this arrangement that he is allowed to go there on most weekends," Nox elaborated. "So that he could kill xenos there and not take his urges on the other students. He would not be able to go on for long periods of time without butchering something."

 _So that is why everybody are all alive after the first week._ "I see. Are you doing that too?" Azuhrius asked from Nox.

"No, I am going to the trip. Beats sitting in class or doing that fucking school work any day.

"How did Sangur get all that stuff to do, while you avoided it?" Azuhrius asked amazed.

Nox gestured with his hand on his sides which looked strange when he was upside down.

"I am a dutiful student," he said with a smirk.

"I am sure you are. How did you really manage that?"

Nox shrugged. "I stole an essay from one of the other students in the beginning and put my name on it. Gave the teacher the impression I actually can do things. After that I have done the bare minimum and told the teacher it was hard for me to work with things that don't I find especially interesting." He gave out a small chuckle.

"I doubt a dutiful student would do that," Azuhrius said, but he was a bit impressed by Nox's cunning when it came to avoiding school work.

"There's not crime if you don't get caught," Nox said with a grin. "I also heard there was something interesting planned by that Winchester guy and Arc. So that is part of the reason I am going to the trip. I kinda want to see how it goes."

A frown formed on Azuhrius face. "How did you hear about Cardin and Jaune?"

Nox Shrugged again. "I just overheard them talking the other night. After that I eavesdropped Team CRDL to hear some more details. Nothing you should worry about, just some squabble between school mates."

 _If it just squabble between_ _school mates_ , _why are you interested_? _Well, it probably is not a big deal._

"I am going."

All the eyes turned to Orchid who had just spoken. Azuhrius was really surprised. "Why do you want to go? he asked from his teammate.

"They are collecting some sap, right? I want some."

Azuhrius glanced at Orchids portable drug lab. He probably hoped to find a way to use the sap in making so weird stuff. It was just like Orchid to keep an eye out for new ways to have a stimulating experience.

An idea formed in Azuhrius' head. He looked at Sangur as he thought about how to explain his idea. "Hey, Sangur. Want some help with those assignment?"

Sangur looked at him with confusion, Nox with deep suspicion.

"What are you scheming?" The hanging boy said.

"Nothing." Azuhrius gestures with open hands. "I was just thinking that I would help a teammate in need. I can do most of the stuff for you, Sangur, if you want."

"So you are not going to the trip?" Nox asked.

"No, I think I am just going to remain here helping him out. You two have fun on the trip. Orchid, keep an eye on Nox for me. Nox, Keep an eye on Orchid for me."

Nox and Orchid looked at each other, both taken back by how the situation had developed. Sangur let out an amused chuckle. Azuhrius was pretty confident that if there would not have been massive pile of school work involved, Sangur would not have agreed to this.

Orchid seemed rather okay with the notion, as he certainly did not fear that Nox would try something on him.

Nox seemed still somewhat displeased, but did not raise an opposition. "Do some school work for me too while you are at it," he said to Azuhrius.

"Sure, I can do that." Azuhrius was getting way more out of this. Some homework was not a huge and agonizing trial for him like it was for Nox. And now he got to spend time with Sangur without Nox's supervision. He hoped he could fish some information out of him, and maybe even make some progress on making him an ally.

Nox raised his (or lowered since he was upside down) comic again to his eye level. "Sangur, you have my permission to brutally murder Azuhrius if he tries something. Don't believe anything he says, and report all that you said or did to me after the trip."

"Can do," Sangur said and focused on his axes again.

"Then we have a plan." Azuhrius said and returned to his scroll. He would probably just tell Kaltrina to do all of Nox and Sangur's homework in the future, like she did for Orchid, but there was no need to hurry. He could do that after he had spend some time with Sangur. One must use an opportunity when it comes across.

Now all he had to hope was that Orchid and Nox would not kill each other while he was not watching them.

* * *

 **Sorry about no one dying brutally in a shower of blood despite this being chapter 8.**

 **There is something new and red waiting in my DevianArt profile, so check that out and tell me what do you think.**

 **Leave a nice Review for me as a present, anything that comes to your mind, and happy holidays.**


	9. Chapter 9

**Hah, you thought that I would not manage to deliver any more chapters this year, didn't you?**

* * *

 **Chaos is the Prize Chapter 9**

"We will rendezvous back here at four o'clock," Glynda said to the students gathered around her on the forest clearing. "Have fun." The students started to scatter as soon as the teacher unleashed them, vanishing into the wild.

The forever fall was… red, simply said. Red and full of dangerous things to kill. Nox could see why Sangur liked this place.

He was standing, if not next to Orchid, then at least close. They both held their empty bottles in their hands that they were suppose to gather the sap in. Orchid was curiously eyeing the trees and smelling the rather peculiar fragrance of the forest's air. Nox was focusing more on the leaders of teams JNPR and CRDL.

"Come on buddy, let's go," Cardin said as he grabbed Jaune's shoulder. The blond boy stood there for a while, gazing mournfully at the rest of his team, before finally following the bigger boy.

Jaune and Team CRDL started to move away from the meeting place, and Nox went after them, with Orchid not far behind.

They walked for a short while until Carding finally stopped. "Okay, Jaune. We are just going to wait here. Could you fill all our bottles with sap? We would really appreciate it." Cardin sat down and leaned against a tree, and the rest of his team followed suit and began to take it easy around him.

Jaune let out a silent sigh and started walking to the forest. Nox quickly places his own bottle on top of the case Jaune was carrying with the rest of the bottles. "I hope you don't mind if I also take advantage of Jaunes kind assistance," he said to Cardin with a small grin.

"Sure, I am sure he does not mind, like the pal he is," Cardin replied with a smile.

Nox glanced at Orchid. "You're not going to let the serf boy take care of the sap?"

"No, I will do it myself," Orchid said without looking at Nox as he approached a nearby tree. He had many empty bottles of his own in addition to the big one given to him by the teacher.

"Suit yourself," Nox said and climbed the tree Cardin was leaning with a few swift moves without using his hands, his metallic lags biting into the tree.

"What have you planned with Jaune?" He asked from Cardin, looking down at him from the tree top.

Cardin hesitated for only a moment before he answered. He seemed to think that Nox was enough of the same cloth as him that he could let him in on his scheme. "You will see soon. Something to do with the Nikos girl. Just don't tell anyone afterwards."

Nox nodded. "I believe I can keep it from the world." He got comfortable on a thick tree branch after quickly observing the forest, waiting for the blond boy to return.

* * *

"Aaand done," Azuhrius said as he placed the last paper on top of the pile. He had done the assignments not so perfectly, so that Oobleck would not suspect that someone else had done the work for Sangur. That had taken quite a while, but after couple of hours of work he was finally done. "Now all that is left to do is those things for Nox."

They were in their dorm room, Azuhrius sitting working by a desk, and Sangur laying on the floor against the end of a bed.

"I don't understand how you can stand doing something so tedious and worthless," Sangur said as he looked at the pile of work Azuhrius had done for him.

"Well I don't see it as worthless," Azuhrius replied. He pulled out some homework that was suppose to be done by Nox. "If you don't like it, why are you here?" That was a nice way to diverge the conversation in the direction that would give Azuhrius more information.

Sangur did not give a suspicious look like Nox most certainly would have given if he was present, which he fortunately was not. "We did not exactly have a choice in the matter," Sangur grunted in slight irritation. "It was this or staying locked in a small cell."

Azuhrius narrowed his eyes just a bit in reaction to Sangur words. He was little worried if somebody had captured Nox and Sangur, for they could reveal information about Terra that did not need to spread to other Kingdoms. "Who locked you up in a cell?" he asked from Sangur.

Again, Sangur did not seem to mind telling like Nox would have. He just did not give a shit. "Ozpin, and that one General from Atlas."

A faint sting of alert flashed in Azuhrius' mind. What had happened that required the attention of the Atleasian military leader? "Why did they lock you up. What happened?"

Sangur let out a rough huff. "We were just in the wrong place at the wrong time. We were stealing some dust from a storage container, just some so we could keep our weapons working. Nothing big or something we had not done in the past. It all went well until we ran into these Faunus guys in masks."

"The White Fang?" Azuhrius asked.

"Don't know, I did not stop to ask. They did not like that we were there to steal the dust they were stealing, so we got into a bit of a fight. And that's when the security forces rushed in."

"They took you into imprisonment?"

"Yeah, they thought we we with the faunus so they took as in for interrogation. They did not want to let us go because they thought we were involved in something big and bad. I never really got to the bottom of what they wanted. The Canemaster was there, and they had the General guy on the other end of a communicator."

"Did you tell them anything?" Azuhrius asked with a stern voice. If Nox and Sangur had told anything, it would be really bad.

"Well, I did not at least. I tried to kill them every time they came to talk to me. They did not get me out of my cell. I broke couple of their metal puppets when they were careless." Sangur's lips formed a small grin. "Couple~."

"So how did you end up here?" Azuhirus did see in much sense in letting criminal suspects into a hunter academy. _What was the headmaster thinking?_

"Well, they let me see Nox after quite a while in separation and he said he had made deal with the Canemaster. I don't know what it was about, I did not ask. I just wanted out of there." He had a painful expression on his face. "It was terrible not to be able to kill for such a long time. It hurt, and I had no way of relieve it." He rubbed the side of his head, as if he had a headache. "So we had to come here where they could keep an eye on us. If we tried to leave or do something they don't like, we are locked up again." His red eyes flashed with restrained anger. "I am not going to go back there."

Azuhrius nodded. He had gotten much info out of Sangur. So that was what had happened to Nox and Sangur while they were on their own. What did Ozpin and this Atleasian General have in their minds? Azuhrius though that he should get Nox to fill some of the holes in the story, but that would most likely not be easy and would take some time. He would find out sooner or later.

* * *

"Cardin, what's going on." Jaune asked as their group observed team RWBY and leaderless team JNPR from a high ground.

Orchid was on his knees next to Nox, interested in hearing an answer to the question as well.

"Payback…" Cardin said, eyes locked to Pyrrha Nikos. "That's the girl. Redhead, know it all."

Cardin pulled a cardboard box from behind his back with a big "W" written on it. He proceeded to explain how Jaune had managed to capture some rapier wasps, which surprised Orchid. He would not have believed the blond boy capable to do anything that required even that level of ability.

"And now, we are going to put them to work," Cardin said as agitated buzzing echoed from the box he was holding.

Orchid narrowed his eyes but said nothing. Did these guys really think that a petty trick would even bother the Champion of Mistral. Orchid huffed. well, this was a good opportunity to see what the red haired girl was like, and how she would react. If she could not manage something like this, then she would certainly not be worth his time.

"-These nasty things love sweets. I think it is time we taught her a thing or two." Cardin said as he stood up. The rest of them followed. "And you're gonna do it," he said to Jaune as he pulled the frailer boy up, and then roughly pushed a bottle full of sap into his hands.

"Do what?" Jaune questioned.

"Hit her with the sap," Cardin pointed at the bottle. "Either that, or I'll have a chat with Goodwitch, and you will be on the first airship out of Beacon."

Orchid glanced at Nox. The pale boy had mentioned to him something about how Cardin was blackmailing Jaune with a knowledge that the blond had entered the academy with other than honest methods. It sure explained a lot, Orchid thought. It would not have bothered him at all if a miserable excuse for a fighter like the Arc boy would be kicked out.

Jaune took the bottle of sap and assumed a throwing position. Orchid seriously doubted his chance of making the shot though.

Jaune stood there for a while with the bottle in hand. He did not throw it, nor did he lower it in surrender. He looked like he was having a dramatic and character defining mental battle. Then he spoke. "No…"

Orchid grinned just a bit with a raised eyebrow. It looked like the boy had managed to gather some mental resources to form some kind of a spine.

"What did you say?" Cardin asked.

"I said… No!" Jaune turned and smashed the bottle against Cardin's breastplate.

Orchid let out a small chuckle, as did Cardin after some time.

"Oh, you've done it now," the tall boy said with threatening tone in his voice.

Orchid and Nox both had a hint of a grin on their faces. This kinda turn of events was also decently entertaining.

Jaune let out a very nervous laughter as Dove and Sky grabbed his shoulders.

They dragged Jaune a little further away into the forest, somewhere where the other students of their class would not hear or bother them, where Cardin started to beat up Jaune. He struck the boy with his fists, as the rest of them formed a circle around them and just watched.

Orchid could feel the faint but enjoyable pain that radiated from the blond who just took it without using his Aura or putting up any resistance. He wondered if he should help out in making the boy suffer, as he knew a thing or two about pain. Cardin said they were going to send him back home in tiny pieces, so they were going to kill him, right? Like, why would he say that if they were not going to do it. In that case it would be okay for Orchid to torment Jaune, and there would be no problem if he was permanently damaged. Azuhrius would allow it if they were not caught, Orchid was sure of it.

Then something very interesting happened. Cardin's fist connected once again with Jaune's face, but this time there was a bright flash of light. Cardin let go of Jaune, holding his hand as if hitting the blond had hurt him.

Sky kicked Jaune in the back, sending him sprawling to the ground.

Cardin had an enraged expression on his face. "Let's see how much of a man you really are."

At that moment however, a beastly roar echoed into their ears.

A wild Ursa appeared!

Everybody turned to look to see an Ursa Major come out of the forest, red eyes locked on to the group of students. It let out a howl, making Cardin's teammates take a scared step back from the monstrous creature.

Orchid glanced around him. Aaaand he's gone. Nox was no where to be seen, as he had expected. No matter the situation, Nox would be the first to run, and nobody had a chance to beat him in his Legion's most honored tradition. Orchid seemed to remember that someone from the VIIIth legion had even written a book about it, called The Art of Fleeing. A somewhat Codex equivalent for that Legion.

The Grimm sniffed at the air and focussed on the Sap that was spilled on Cardin's breast plate.

"That's a big Ursa," somebody from Cardin's team said, Orchid did not remember his name, nor did he really care. The three boys of Cardin's gang started to run away, leaving their leader, Jaune and Orchid behind.

Cardin just stood there, frozen by the sight of the beast that was many times the size of him.

As Orchid started to walk away, calmly and without worry, the Ursa raised its massive pawn and smashed it at Cardin so that the boy was sent stumbling on ground. What did he care for this pathetic lowlife who could not even hold his in fight against a single xeno creature. Good riddance.

The Beast did not seem to care about the others and proceeded to stomp after Cardin, totally disregarding Jaune and Orchid.

Nothing disturbed his stride and soon Orchid reached a small hill nearby, on top of which Nox was crouched, observing the situation going with the Ursa Major. Orchid stopped next to him, and likewise turned around to spectate.

As the two of them watched, Cardin who was laying on the ground raised his mace against the Grimm that was looming over him, but the much bigger creature effortlessly swatted the weapon from Cardin's hands, sending it clattering away from from his reach.

"Pathetic," Orchid said while he crossed his hands, as the Ursa practically played with Cardin.

"For once, I agree." Nox said from his crouch.

Orchid glanced at him. "I don't suppose you are going to help him," he said with a uncaring voice.

"Hell no, let the Ursa have him," Nox said like he was offended by the mere thought. "Dibs on his weapon. I am going to take it once the Ursa is done with him. It never hurts to have spare weapons, and hunter weapons sell for a quite a nice price if I have no other use for it."

"Scavenger…" Orchid said with a sneer. Not that he himself would have been above such a thing if the weapon had been more elegant and not such a brutal and graceless instrument. His lip curled with a hint of a smile. He knew a couple of cousins who would loved to get their hands on Cardin's weapon.

"Also, I have a bet with Sangur that the blond over there is not the first one to die of the students in our class," Nox said with hint of regret.

Orchid's eyes widened with a slight surprise as he looked at Nox. "Why in the Warp would you make such a bet?"

"Well how I was suppose to know that the red girl with the scythe could actually use it? I thought she would go down when faced with the first Grimm on the Initiation grounds."

Orchid let out a short laugh. "Well, It looks like you are going to win that bet."

"Or not," Nox said with annoyance as he pointed at the other students of their year that had emerged from the forest. Those twats that had ran away earlier had probably spread the knowledge what was going on "Buzzkill."

Orchid let out disappointed huff. He would not have minded to see the Ursa rip Cardin apart.

However, when the Ursa raised its claws to strike down at Cardin, it was not the recently arrived classmates that saved him. The blond boy who Cardin had picked on blocked the strike of the Grimm beast with his white shield, defending the boy who had beaten him up just a moment ago.

"What the fuck is he doing," Nox said with a voice that conveyed that he could not understand Arc's choice.

Orchid could not either, but this turn of events amused him somehow. A faint and distorted laugh escaped his lips as the boy armed with his old shield and sword "fought" with the large xeno. "Maybe we get to see something after all," he said as he saw that the other students were standing their ground and letting the event play out.

At that moment the white shield moved strangely, out of sync with the rest of the blond's movements. Orchid could see it clearly with his sharpened eyes. The shield moved to block an attack from the Ursa Major, seemingly on its own accord. And then the boys sword came up and beheaded the creature with a one clean swing, instant killing the monstrous creature in a shower of foul blood.

Everybody present just stared in awe at what had just happened, above all others the blond himself. The beast lay headless and dead on the ground, laying at the feet of the boy who had vanquished it.

The other students that had observed the situation started heading away, as if not wanting to intervene in the aftermath. The blond boy walked to the fallen form of Cardin, reach out his hand and helped the other team leader up from the ground red with leaves and blood that was turning ashen black.

"What… What just happened?" Nox asked, mouth open and staring at the body of the Grimm with disbelief. "Are my eyes deceiving me?" he said as if there could be no other option. "This must be an illusion caused by the sun. Damn you sun!"

"No, it really just happened," Orchid said while his eyes gleamed as he watched the crimson and bronze girl walking further away from them. "He got some assistance from his much more capable teammate."

As the red ponytail vanish behind the almost same colored trees, Orchid found his urge to fight her to have grown even greater than before, boosted by this new discovery of her abilities. He could not wait for the day when he would finally cross weapons with her.

* * *

"Greetings," Azuhrius said to Nox as he entered their dorm room, occupied only by the black eyed person sitting on the ledge of the open window, who was looking into the darkness that had swallowed the world at the end of the day. It was somewhat cold because of the open window, but the raptor legged Venatore did not seem to mind. Despite Azuhrius' words, Nox remained looking out of the window into the night, almost like he wanted to jump out and dive into it.

"How was the field trip?" Azuhrius said as he walked to his bed and pulled out his scroll.

"Could have been better. We were so close of getting rid of couple of the miserable twats."

Azuhrius nodded. "Yeah, I heard something like that from Orchid. It is good that nothing big happened. No need for unwanted hassle." Orchid had told him all about what had happened, including that the leader of team JNPR had not exactly earned his place at Beacon. Azuhrius had filed that piece of information away, in case he ever needed a bargaining chip to influence the blond boy.

"Where is the queer by the way?" Nox inquired, ever the suspicious one. "I know Sangur is taking care of his business with Oobleck, but I haven't seen the other one since we returned from the forest."

"He said he was… brewing, or something like that. Probably something with the sap you brought from the forest. He is somewhere outside where there is no one around. I could not let him do it in the dorm room, after all."

Nox spared him a glance from his obsidian eyes. "Orchid is brewing something? I think I have to use my safe drinking water cache for the coming week."

"You have safe drinking water stored somewhere?"

"Yeah, and for just this kind of occasions. Even If half of the school is incapacitated after tomorrow's breakfast, I will be safe."

"Can I have some?" Azuhrius asked as he realized Nox had a point.

"Hell no, get your own!"

Nox continued to peer out of the window, and Azuhrius managed his scroll. He was preparing a message for Kaltrina about the addition to her tasks. "Would it be acceptable if I arranged someone to do your and Sangur's homework for you?" he asked, as even Nox was not crazy and paranoid enough to refuse such an offer.

The black eyes instantly turned to Azuhrius, seeking signs of trickery and deception. He was quiet for a while, before he answered "What's the catch?"

"No catch of any kind," Azuhrius said with honest tone that he had mastered over the years.

"Yeah, because that's how it always is with the Gods and their followers." But he was not going to refuse, and they both knew it.

"I want to see everything before I deliver it to a teacher," Nox said, as if he would actually do it more than couple of times before he got bored.

"No problem, it is your school work after all."

A small grin formed on the pale lips, and Azuhrius mirrored it.

"Who will do them?" Nox asked as the thought apparently just came to his mind.

Azuhrius continued to tap the scroll with his fingers, finalizing the message. "A trustworthy associate of mine."

"Someone from the other Legions?" Nox questioned with a slightly resentful tone.

"No, she is not," Azuhrius concluded the matter. He sent the message, checked few other things and then stored his scroll away. As he raised from the bed with the intent of removing his armor pieces, he noticed that Nox was leaning out of the window in readiness, head held high as if listening to something.

"What are yo-" Azuhrius began.

"Hushh," Nox hushed him as motioned him to be quiet.

Azuhrius took couple of steps closer and listened. He could hear faint voices coming from somewhere outside.

"You should come down. Ren made pancakes~" he heard a feminine voice say.

He looked at Nox and saw a vicious grin creeping on his pale face, his eyes gleaming with purpose that Azuhrius had not yet seen in those dark pits.

Azuhrius shrugged after listening, dismissing it as nothing more than chatter of young students. Nothing to concern himself over. He did not see what Nox seemed to be so eager about, but he was sure it was a matter without any sort of value or consequences.

* * *

This was the fourth time. The fourth one in the series of strange dreams Ruby had had lately, there was no way of mixing them with normal dreams. Normally when one dreamed, there was a lack of rationality and things were always slightly not right, but one could never tell as long as they were dreaming it. Only after waking up was it possible to notice the strange and silly things of the nightly rest's illusions.

This was not like it. She knew with absolute certainty that she was dreaming, and she could spot the flawed logic and shifting reality of the dream, as if she had been wide awake. Yet she could not wake up. No amount of will power was enough to push her back to reality, and no amount of pinching bore results. She just had to live these weird mind fantasies to their end.

She had been really confused and scared during the first dream. She had fared a little better with the second one, but the third one had managed to scare her again. He had managed to scare her.

Nox was always there. In all the four dreams so far, she had encountered him, with varying consequences. The place also seemed to be the same, although not the exact location. She got the image that they were every time in some sort of huge castle or a palace, always made of the same shadowy blue mist material, but in a slightly different part of it. She also had noticed that the dreams seemed to happen on weekends. The first had been on Saturday, the second and third on the two days of the following weekend, and again Saturday tonight.

She still remembered vividly the first dream about the ghostly corridor, where Nox had pulled out the black revolvers. The second dream had been really different. She had found Nox sitting in chair by a table, in the center of a great circular terrace, although there had been nothing but darkness beyond the pillars on the edges of the place, and the only door had remained unflinchingly closed. She had sat down in another chair by the table without any other plan of action, and proceeded to talk to Nox. She had asked him what was going on with the place, but he had not answered to anything she said. He had just sat there completely silent, his black eyes just looking at her. Not talking, just watching her.

The third dream had taken place in a corridor, although not in the same one as the first one. It had been a dream that ended quickly. She had spotted Nox at the end of the corridor, and when she had called out to him, he had rushed her like a maniac and grabbed her face. "The Warp Gods will drink your mind and devour your soul!" he had screamed at her from the top of his lungs without any sanity in his black eyes. She had woken instantly after that, terrified enough to break free of the dream.

The stage of tonight's dream was a cave of some sort. It looked a bit like an underground tunnel under fortress, since the ceiling was made of ghoulish brick rock and there were carved pillars here and there.

Nox was sitting on a big chunk of a rock, only a couple of meters away from Ruby, eyes looking away from her.

She took a hesitating step towards him. "Hey," she said with a cautious voice.

Nox turned to look at him, his face showing same kind of lack of focus as in previous dreams, but there was also surprise and wondering. "Hello," he answered with a voice that distinctly lacked that varying level of hostility he normally had. He seemed to look a Ruby curiously, as if he did not recognize her.

Ruby walked to him, keeping however a safe distance to the sitting figure.

"I have asked you this three times already, but do you know where we are?" Ruby asked.

Nox looked around, as if wondering the same question himself. "I am not sure."

He seemed lot more calm and cooperating than in the other dreams, so Ruby decided to try if he could get something out of him. "Nox… Do you know what this is?" She spread her hands around in the unnatural and bluish cave. "Do you know what this place really is?"

Nox really looked like he had not idea what Ruby was talking about, as he stared at her with a sullen expression. He seemed to switch in states of minds between the dreams, Ruby thought, as he was just so different each time. "Nox, we are dreaming."

But he did not look at her anymore and it seemed like he was not listening what she was saying. His attention seemed to be taken by something else.

"Nox?" She said. "what are you looking at?"

"The wolf," he said.

"Wolf? what wol- Ah!" Ruby turned her head and spotted black form of Beowolf only couple of meters next to her, right in the direction Nox was looking. Where had it come from? She should have seen it, but she did not notice it before Nox had pointed it out to her.

She instinctively reached for Crescent Rose, but like in all the other dreams, her dear weapon was not with her.

The Grimm did not however seem to notice them either. It stalked slowly, sniffing the ground with it's nose. Ruby could have reached and touch it if she took a few steps, so close was it. But is did not sense her and Nox. It was if is one way barrier was between them, so that they could see it, but it could not see them.

"What is it doing here?" Ruby asked.

"I don't know." Nox said without letting the creature out of his eyes.

Ruby could not understand why the foul creature was there, but then she remembered this was not real. Anything was possible here as far as she knew.

"Is it really a Beowolf?" she asked.

"Yes. it just a plain normal beowulf, nothing special about it," Nox said. "Except…" He raised one of his metallic legs, the talons reflecting soft light that had no source. "It is the reason I have these."

Ruby looked at Nox's feet and then at the Beowolf. She took a step back as she noticed that the claws of the beast were suddenly drenched in red oily matter.

"What happened? she asked, but Nox did not answer. She knew that Grimm were dangerous and often caused serious harm to people, be she had never met anyone with so… visible signs of a confrontation with the soulless beasts. Aura guarded the body, but it's protection had very real and ever present limits.

Ruby wondered whether she should let the matter be, when she got the strange feeling that they were being watched. The feeling was a faint but sudden and noticeable surge, and it made her look around. She half expected a horde of other Grimm crawling towards them, but there was nothing living or moving in sight. As she swept the cave with her gaze, she could not help but to declare that she, Nox and the lone Beowolf were the only ones in there. Her eyes jumped between the shadows of the caves corners, of which her sight could not penetrate. Yet she had the feeling that there might have been someone there, hidden by the shadow, just outside the reach of her perception. "Is there someone else in here?" she asked silently from Nox.

The pale boy looked around, scanning every shadow in turn with his black eyes, after which he looked at her. "No, there is no one here but us."

"Are you sure… I just get this feeling from those shadows..." she said while squinting her eyes, trying to spot a gleam of a weapon or a red of a Grimm eye.

"They would have to be a really something if they managed to hide from me in the shadows," Nox said with a dismissing grin.

Ruby stared at the shades for a moment longer before she let go. She turned back to Nox and the Beowolf that was now interested in the stone ceiling, watching it while sniffing loudly. She looked at it, and she realised she had never been this close to a Beowolf without the beast trying to kill her and miserably failing.

"Do you know what these things are. These… dreams." She asked, because she really wanted to know. At first she had wondered if it had something to do with Nox's semblance, but somehow that seemed unlikely.

"I… I don't know," Nox muttered, like he was not even sure what she had just asked of him.

"Do you think they will keep happening?" She asked with a worry in her voice as she spectated the wolf. She did not understand what was going on, and the uncertainty made her feel weak and vulnerable.

"Yeah. Yeah I think they will, " he said.

When Ruby looked at him, he noticed Nox was gone. The rock he had sat on was empty, with no signs of anyone ever having been there. When she looked back at the Grimm, she found that it was still there.

But it was dead.

The black and white Beowolf was lying motionless on the floor of the great ghost cave, not smoking like it would have in reality, with a red chainaxe smashed into it's broken skull.

* * *

 **And so ends the last chapter of the year (at least it is still 2015 for me while I am writing this). Nine chapters already. Oh, how far we have come. There is sure to be many more chapters in the coming year.**

 **Oh, I almost forgot, there is a new piece of work on my DevianArt profile, so check that out.**

 **Leave a review, if your feel it in your heart, and Happy New Year.**


	10. Chapter 10

**Warning, largest chapter yet coming trough. There was just so much stuff to tell that I could not possibly split it up. This chapter is also quite unique, since any part of it is not from Legionnaire's perspective. This chapter will bring some much needed information about Venatores, not everything of course, but quite a lot.**

* * *

 **Chaos is the Prize Chapter 10**

Kaltrina read the message over three times in a row, making sure she had understood its content clearly. She immediately extracted the attached files, saving the homework details for the soon-to-come processing. She had been about to make a cup of tea for herself before going to bed, but that could wait until she had completed the assignments give to her by Azuhrius. The orders of Azuhrius always came first, always, without anything eclipsing them, and she would follow them with absolute obedience.

" _Did you get them?_ " came a last confirmation message from the Legionnaire currently at Beacon, written in a crypted code that Kaltrina could read and translate fluently in an instant.

" _Received,"_ she sent back in same language that would have been meaningless to anyone not explicitly trained to understand it by the XXth.

" _You have your orders. This is all for now. Hydra Dominatus."_

" _Hydra Dominatus,"_ she replied and closed the application. She deleted all data from the recent communication, wiping her scroll clean of any sign of recent messaging. Then she disconnected from the scrollnet that was strictly used only for the communication between the two of them, joining into another network that was used for nonsensitive sharing of information, which homework definitely was not.

Her surprise had been great when Azuhrius had told her that he had made contact with two Venatores thought dead at the academy, and she certainly had not expected to be assigned to do their homework for them, like she was already doing for Orchid. _Lazy drug fiend._

But if Azuhrius had decided it would be beneficial for this to be done, she was not one to question his judgement.

Kaltrina was sitting by a simple wooden desk, located in the corner of the tiny apartment she was residing in. Azuhrius had decided it would be best for her to remain in Vale, where she could provide support quickly should it be required. She also needed to stay in the Kingdom so that they could communicate using scrolls, since using an interkingdom communication station was naturally out of question.

There was really nothing in the room that could be considered personal or anything resembling extravagant, for she required little else to fulfill her duties here. She considered the small kitchen to be practically luxurious, for normally she did not have a chance to make herself tea if she felt so.

She opened the files containing homework to begin her task. It would take some time, especially as she not only had to do it for three different people, but also make them seem like they actually could have been done by the person they were for. There had to enough flaws in Orchid's assignment after all, to seem genuine.

She glanced shortly to her left, glimpsing at the small mirror hanging from the wall, which also was bigger than what she was used to. Her own side reflection answered her gaze, her eyes drawn to the Hydra tattoo on her shoulder revealed by her black sleeveless shirt. That mighty symbol that meant so much. Seeing it always brought back memories.

* * *

Kaltrina was sitting in a corner of the storage hall's room, hugging her knees. It was cold, not too cold to bear, but it sure felt uncomfortable, as her worn clothes were unable to offer much protection against it.

There were other children around her, sitting in a similar fashion along the concrete wall of the, some in small groups but most on their space, like her. There were maybe ten girls beside her, and perhaps over twice that many boys, she was not sure of the exact number. They were all more or less same age as her, some a little younger, eldest maybe around nine years old. They were all silent. When the men in black clothes brought more kids in, the newcomers usually cried or screamed. The sound however always died down quickly, and the silence returned. Some children still quietly cried out for their parents, but those were in the minority. She had never done that, for she had nowhere to go back to. This place was not terribly different from the fringe streets of Vacuo, and at least here she got something to eat regularly.

There were no windows in the stark space, so she could not follow the passing of night and day. The only light came from the weak light bulbs in the ceiling that barely provided illumination. She did not know how long she had been here, it already felt like forever.

The men in black clothes always brought them food before she could get truly hungry. The bread and rare vegetables tasted alway like a heavenly meal after waiting, their quality however varying.

Why were they all kept there was a mystery to her, and none of the other children she had asked really knew anything either. It was said they were some kind of criminals, but that was pretty much all she could gather. Some kids whispered of human trafficking, but she did not know what it meant.

The big rusty red door opened like it always did when it was time to eat. A man in blue sunglasses and the same kind of black clothes as all the others came in, pushing a metal cart filled with whatever they were getting fed this time.

She rose to stand with the other children and headed for the cart that promised relief for the hunger. They formed a loose line in the usual spot, each waiting to get their share. The man was handing each of them two round bread pieces each, and when one received their portion, they retreated back to whatever segment of the floor they had chosen as their own.

Kaltrina raised her hands and the man gave her two pieces of loaf, one in each hand.

She turned and started heading away without saying a word. However when she was about the reach her corner, she felt someone grab her hand. She turned to see a boy with blue eyes and brown hair holding on to her, motioning to the bread in her right hand. The boy twisted the precious sustenance from her hand, and then moved away from her with his prize in hand.

There was nothing she could do, as the five or so men in black guarding the room certainly would not care. She accepted it and sat down, beginning to consume her remaining piece of bread.

The boy who had stolen from her was however stopped himself by a hand falling over his shoulder. He turned with a angry look on his face, only to come across a another boy, who was holding a pistol aimed at the thief. The gun was same kind of as what the some of the guards used, and Kaltrina could only wonder how the boy had managed acquire it. He covered so much of it with his hands that the guards would not have seen it, even if the lazy and bored thugs had payed even decent attention what the children were doing. The boy with a gun motioned at the hand of the boy who had stolen from her, and the boy reluctantly gave up his bounty. The boy hid his gun away, took the food and proceeded to walk right at Kaltrina.

He stopped in front of her, held out what was stolen from her, which she reached out to accept. No words were shared, and the boy walked a short way from her along the wall, before sitting down to enjoy his own share of the food.

Kaltrina was genuinely touched that somebody was able to care with the situation they were in. She rose from the concrete floor, and walked a short way to reach the boy who had preserved her meal. She sat down next to him, keeping however a slightly respectful distance. The boy blonde haired boy looked at him with his gray eyes, face showing no emotions for her to interpret.

"Thank you..." she said quietly enough for nobody else to hear, trying to fill her voice with all the appreciation she felt.

The boy did not say anything, he just nodded. They both ate their modest meal in silence, enjoying every last breadcrumb.

There was a tap on one of the walls, where the children could go to fill a plastic bottle for them to drink. Many of the children moved to it to quell their drought after the food, but Kaltrina was not thirsty yet, despite her bottle being empty.

She continued to sit next to the boy, both of them leaning against the wall. After a time that felt like eternity, even if it felt like that most of the time, she opened her mouth. "What's your name?"

The boy jerked upright a little. He had probably been on the verge of falling asleep. He turned to her, observing with a worn expression. He said his name with a hoarse voice, and Kaltrine mulled over it in her mind, trying to pronounce it without making a sound. It was rather common name, a nice name.

"My name is Kaltrina," she told him her own name.

The boy nodded, barely, an almost invisible tinge of a smile on the edges of his lips.

At that moment, something out of ordinary happened. There was a sound of a muffled gunshot coming from somewhere beyond the red and rusted door. Everybody in the confined space looked at the door, ears perking up from the sudden sound.

The usual and constant silence settled after the lonely spike in the noise levels. Nobody said anything, palpable tension filling the air.

"What the hell was that?" one of the black clothed thugs standing guard exclaimed.

Before anyone else could say a word, there was a metallic pounding, as someone knocked on the red metal door.

The guards shared a look among themselves, before the one who had spoken approached the door. He carefully grabbed the doorknob, and the proceeded to open the door.

The was a loud *smack* as the black clothed man was smashed across the room, crashing against the stone wall opposite the door. His meager Aura reserves saved him from the worst of it, but his face was half covered in blood that was leaking from his forehead. He staggered against the wall, totally dazed by the sudden hit. There was a sharp swooping sound, and the man was nailed against the wall by an arrow that pierced his depleted Aura and his skull.

The other guards pulled their weapons as a group that certainly did not look like they were with their captors entered the room. There were sounds of gunfire as the ones armed with guns started shooting, but soon the sound was overlapped as the clangs of melee weapons replaced the booming. Some of the children sitting on the floor let out cries and hugged the floor, scared by the sudden outburst of the battle. Others were too stunned or terrified by the sudden action that was happening around them to even move a muscle.

The fight was over as suddenly as it had started. The black wearing kidnappers were totally annihilated, and none were left standing. One was laying on the ground close to Kaltrina, and she could see the vivid blood leaking from his unmoving body. The attackers had suffered no casualties, and looked like they had not even broken a sweat.

There was once again relative silence as things calmed into a tension filled arrest. The children did not move. Like Kaltrina they were just sitting there, some letting out sobs, watching these new people who were now stalking around the room, watching them in return.

There were four of them, all male, and they brought to Kaltrina's mind what she had seen and heard about huntsmen, the most powerful warriors on all of Remnant. These people definitely were Aura users, but they did not match the noble and righteous image she had gotten from the protectors of the Kingdoms. Her face lingered on the corpse that was on the ground, the coppery smell of blood invading her nostrils.

There was a painful moan that captured her attention. Near the center of the room, laying on his back in a small pool of blood, one of the dark clothed thugs was still alive, whining quietly because of his injuries.

Three of the strange Aura users gathered around him, to look at the man in pain at their feet.

"This one yet lives," said one of them with a cold voice. He was dressed mostly in black, with some modest white decoration. He was wearing a dark grey mask, that in it's almost peaked muzzle reminded her of a bird. He did not seem to have any apparent weapons on him, but Kaltrina could have sworn she had seen one of the guards fall before him.

Second of the Aura users, this one clad in white leather with black decorations raised a glaive he was holding, but last of the three, a brutal looking boy in deep red clothing and a few metal gray armor pieces, halted the motion with his hand

"No, I have a better idea," he said with a rough voice, a hint of a smile in his face. He turned to the kids that were afraid and did not dare to move a muscle. The red eyes swept around the large and stark room, causing Kaltrina to flinch when they passed her. "Is there anyone here who wants to be a be a strong and fearless warrior! Now is time to step forward!" he bellowed to the room full of children.

A silence ruled ones again, as the boys and girls on the ground turned their heads if anybody would do something with pale expressions.

Kaltrina also looked around, but her vision happened to cross with one of the Aura users on the other side of the room, who was almost completely in blue clothes, holding large and dangerously looking crossbow on his hands. His expression showed contempt and she quickly looked away, hopping he would not mind her.

"Ah, good. We found one. Come here," the boy in red said, motioning with his hand.

Kaltrina looked around and found out someone had indeed stood up. She even recognised him. It was the boy who had tried to steal her half of her food from her. They all watched as the boy hesitantly started walking forward towards the three strange fighters looming over the wounded thug, whose muted sobs accompanied him all the way. Kaltrina had to admit, the boy had courage. She could not have even remained standing in this situation.

The boy reached the red warrior, who was looking down on his with a merciless red eyes and a small grin on his rugged face. The kid was barely over the waist of the Aura user who towered over him.

The crimson fighter stepped aside, giving the a boy clear view of the black clothed man bleeding on the concrete floor. There was a muted metallic scraping noise as the red Aura user pulled a bladed weapon from its scabbard on his belt. It was a crude but clean bladed weapon, like an overly large dagger, too small for it to be a sword. He handed the weapon to the boy next to him, and the nine year old child at most accepted it with tense hands. It looked absurdly large in his hands, and he had to hold it with both hands for it to be steady in his grip.

"Now," said the one who had given the dangerous weapon to a mere child. "Kill him."

The boy looked up at the face that had given him the weapon that now shook slightly in his hands, and then he looked around the other two circling the person he was just told to murder in cold blood.

"It is because of him that you have been kept in this place as prisoner. Don't you want retribution? He deserves it," the Aura user in white and black said, encouraging the little boy.

With the edge of the blade directed at the maimed criminal on his back on the cold floor, the boy took a step forward to close what little distance was remaining between them. If the man who had been judged for execution by the fighters tried to speak for his defence, to beg for mercy, Kaltrina's ears did not pick on it.

The light danced along the silvery blade of the sharp weapon as it was slowly raised by the boy above his head, while dreaded anticipation was so thick in the air that the weapon he was holding would not have been enough to cut it.

"Do it..." the fighter in red said.

There was a wet crunch, as the weapon fell, and a one last whine was heard from the man before he was silenced for eternity. The pool of blood around him started to expand just a bit faster, as his life liquid was given new opening to flow from. There was a second sound as the young boy raised the weapon for the second time, giving the already dead victim one strike more to be sure. He raised the weapon from the body, and it leaked crimson matter onto the ground and the kid's hands, staining them both with in red.

The Aura user let out a rough laugh and proceeded to take his weapon back from the boy's hands and flicking it in the air to make most of the blood fly from the blade to the floor. "That's the spirit," he said grinning in a very disturbing way. As he sheathed his weapon away to his belt, he took something from chest his pocket with other hand. "I am making an early pick," he said as he pressed a small sticker on the front of the little boys shirt.

"Why do you guys get him?" said the fighter in white with a displeased tint in his voice.

"Because it was my idea," the red one replied grabbing the so much smaller kid from the shoulder and pulling to make him stand next to him.

"We should hurry up," said the one wearing blue clothing from the other side of the room, motioning with his crossbow at the children still sitting on the floor. "Everybody, stand up!" he barked with a commanding voice.

All the kids rose to their feet one after another, some instantly by the force of the command, some more warily. Some who looked like they were not getting up fast enough or at all, received threatening looks from the fighters surrounding them.

As Kaltrina got to her feet like the rest of them, the boy next to him grabbed her shoulder.

"Listen carefully," he said with a voice that was barely a whisper. "I am going to use my gun to cause a distraction, and at the same time you must run to that door and get out of here. Don't stop until you find your way out of the building and find somebody who looks they can be trusted. Tell them what is going on here, tell them to call the Kingdom's police forces." He pulled the gun from behind his waist where it had been hidden, concealing it with his hands. "Do you understand?"

Kaltrina was little taken aback by the boy's sudden words, but she nodded in understanding. He would do something, and she should at the same time try to escape from here. But what about him? Was she suppose to just leave him behind?

"Ready?" the boy said, focusing her on what he intended.

She was about to nod for the second time, when a hand came out of nowhere and grabbed the boy's arm from the wrist. Another hand twisted the gun from the boy's grip with ease, taking the possession of the weapon.

"I don't think so," said a new voice just behind them.

They turned and saw a figure dressed in what looked like some blue and gray military uniform.

He had blue hair and green eyes that observed the two of them with keen stare. He seemed like he was part of the Aura user's group, as the other four in the room did not react to his sudden appearance. Kaltrina had no idea where he had come from. She had not seen him come through the rusted door, that was the only way into the room, and she certainly should have noticed if he had tried to sneak behind them. It felt that he had just materialized from the thin air.

"How did you get this?" he asked with a calm and cool voice, looking at the boy he had just disarmed.

Kaltrina looked next to her and saw that the kid who had lost his gun was looking defiantly up the fighter who was calmly held it, keeping it out of their reach.

When he did not receive a answer of any kind, he just let out a passive "Hmmp" as he tucked the gun behind his belt. When his hand came back, there was a something small and round in it, which he pressed against the young boy's chest. When he pulled away, kaltrina could see a sticker similar to that what the other boy had received. It was yellow in color, and had what looked like a hand drawn three headed snake of the color green.

After placing the strange mark, the fighter in military uniform pulled away with a slight smile on his face. "Don't take it off," he said before turning his gaze to his comrades around the room.

The one with the crossbow pulled against his chest was walking steadily among the standing children, who took a step away from him when he got too close. "Are there any Faunus here? Raise your hand if you are one," he said with a stern voice.

The children looked at one another, only one hand raising, even if there had been some more Faunus on among them. The sole girl with no apparent animalistic features who had the courage to raise her hand was shaking, and Kaltrina could not understand how she had even had the guts to declare her Faunus heritage.

The Aura users crossbow moved, as if he was about to level it at the girl, but he was interrupted by the one in the uniform who had surprised Kaltrina.

"Don't. She is a female anyway. XXth is taking all the females."

The crossbow was lowered, accompanied by a dismissive grunt from its wielder.

"Okay, everyone, form a line to the door. We are leaving. Anyone who tries to flee will be put down," the Aura user in white leather said as he stood by the door, while his comrades hurried the children together.

Kaltrina started heading forward towards the slowly forming line, scared, but more scared of not obeying. The boy grabbed her shoulder firmly, looking at her with affirming look in his gray eyes. "Everything will be alright," he said, as they left behind the miserable place that had been their prison for such a long time.

* * *

Kaltrina did not remember much about the journey or her first days into the place that she had never even knew existed. She suspected those who had taken her and the rest of the children from the remote location in Vacuo had given her something that made her sleepy during the journey. When she woke properly with a clear head, she was somewhere that was the strangest place she had ever witnessed. Old looking stone walls, ancient looking elaborate decorations and rooms and corridors that felt somehow haunted. There was no sunlight, and in places there seemed to be pure bedrock instead of built walls, which made her think that where ever they were, the place was underground.

She did not see the boys from the warehouse prison anywhere, but the ten girls that she recognized from before were with her.

And then there was the man. The man with blue hair and green eyes, who told the young girls to call him Alpha.

That was the start of a new life for Kaltrina. She was trained, fed and modestly cared by the strange Aura users, for a purpose she did not know. The only strange Aura users she saw at first where from the "XXth", as they called it. The twentieth Legion. In the beginning she was not sure how many of them were there. She never saw them gather together, and there was not one distinguishing feature between them. They were all identical to her eyes. Same blue hair, same green eyes. Only after listening to them speak did she realize there was more than one, with the only slight variations in how they sounded.

Kaltrina had never gone to a proper school, but the Alphas gave her what would be closest to one she would ever experience. She was told so much. About Terra, about the Legions. About the Gods.

She was told of the greatest Kingdom to ever exist on the face of Remnant, and of its downfall. And this mighty Kingdom had been ruled by an extraordinary being, who created 20 Legions of unrivaled strength for his own 20 sons to command, who in their own right were like gods among common people. And with these mighty armies, they had started the Great Crusade, a task eclipsing any other similar feat in the known history. They had marched out beyond the walls of Terra, and they had taken the continent in which the Kingdom was located from the creatures of Grimm, which were exterminated nearly completely from the land surrounding Terra. They had created a nation of a size of previously undreamed of, and there seemed not to be anything that could stop their march.

Eventually the Crusade advanced beyond the continent almost completely under the rule of Terra, and that was when Crusade was faced with the other four Kingdoms, and the massive war that had just ignited among them. The Great War, it was to be called, and Terra saw an opportunity to advance its own goal: the conquest of all of Remnant and uniting all of humanity under the His rule from Terra.

So the greatest of Kingdoms joined the war, sending its Legions into battle that would be the largest human conflict in the history. Terra became the third front in the war, for its goals and ideas were in conflict with all the other nations. The war marched on, the mighty Legions commanded by the Warmaster, who the Lord of Terra had chosen and raised among his own sons, and he lead the might of Terra into battle with the other KIngdoms. Terra was the largest and most powerful Kingdom in the existence, fielding the greatest army ever heard of, and many thought is was only the matter of time before Terra's ultimate triumph.

And then the Heresy happened. By the orchestration of the Gods, Terra was plunged into civil war, the rebels lead by none other than the Warmaster himself, and soon the continent in which Terra was located became a war zone in which the Legions fought against one another. Terra disengaged the best it could from the war of colors waging around it, and the two sides fought for the dominance of the realm which they had created.

In the end, after unimaginable battles and terrible desolation, the traitors stood victorious over the ruins of Terra. But their victory was short lived. The Kingdom was in ruins, not even a shadow of it's former self, and amidst the final moments of the Heresy, an old enemy returned. The creatures of Grimm ravaged the continent, bringing destruction to everything Terra had built in its height of glory. The soulless creatures poured from the darkest corners of the land, and the Legions, broken by the war, could not stand against Grimm destroyed Terra, wiping out its human population almost completely, erasing any chance of it to rise again as a Kingdom. The remnants of the Legions took shelter in the depths of Terra's deepest underground dungeons and catacombs, forced into hiding in the ruins they themselves had caused. And they still remained to this day.

Kaltrina was told all this, and so much more.

Slowly, she was molded into something that that she never would have become of her. A tool of the great Hydra. For the first time in her life, she was given a somewhere where she belonged to, a sense of unity, a purpose, a duty. Hydra Dominatus.

Kaltrina did not know how long he had been in that place… Not _that place_. _Terra_. The Closest thing to home she'd ever had. Whatever life she had previously was quickly fading and losing meaning to her, indoctrinated away by the XXth. And she found she did not mind. She even embraced this new path in life that had been granted to her. Hydra Dominatus.

Nothing else mattered that much to her anymore. She was being rewritten as a new Kaltrina. She herself was becoming second priority to herself. What mattered was was the Legion, and the will of its masters. Hydra Dominatus

She was still just a little girl, but she estimated she had been there at least few months. Then one day, Alpha required their assistance with something great. On that day, she and the rest of her eleven comrades left the portion of the underground catacomb they had been confined in for all their time in Terra.

Kaltrina had learned that the place they were in was the very core of the once greatest Kingdom ever to exist. A palace of some sort among the ruins of the dead kingdom, and the Legions used its vast underground domain as their safe haven from the larger world outside, and the soulless creatures forever roamed the surface of the entire world. There was not however much left of the ancient days of glory in this place. The place was a ruin on its own right, a worn husk, or a weak ghost of eminence and majesty. Once, countless of humans had walked its halls and worked on its many corridors and offices, maintaining the matters of the Kingdom by the will of their Lord.

Now the place was almost empty of life. Only the handful of Legionnaires that were all that was left of the great Legions, and the ever fewer lesser human serfs that served them were the only beings that lived here. Unless one counted the creatures from beyond the veil of reality.

Alpha explained to them, that because of the severe lack of human serfs, the XXth was providing its operators in training to help with the matter of unrivaled importance to the Legions. He lead them deep into the confines of the palace, through many deserted corridors and halls. Twice she saw a glimpse of a Legionnaire on their way, but they past them quickly. Then they reached the pure white metal door, probably the most well maintained Kaltrina had seen on all of the palace.

What waited them inside, vast room filled with dozens and dozens of beds of varying kind. Most of them resembled hospital beds, some looked like they had a rather improvised origin. And on those beds, were lying children, strapped with bindings to the surfaces where they laid. Kaltrina realized she recognized some of male children that she had been locked in with by the kidnappers were all there, although there seemed to be others that she had never seen before. There were maybe about forty of them by quick estimation.

Two Legionnaires as well as few human serfs stalked among them, using worn and strange looking medical devices to observe the conditions of the children confined to their beds.

As Kaltrina looked upon this, Alpha explained what it all was about: Adding new recruits to the ranks of the Legions. Making new Legionnaires.

From that day on, Kaltrina and the rest of young operators worked in the "Apothecarion" by the instructions of the Legionnaires that were responsible for the operation. She carried out what she was ordered to do, as Alpha and the two other Legionnaires performed their work on the children.

The room was often filled with screams, the painful cries let out of those being operated. They told her that they could not have used any sort of pain relievers, even if they had possessed some. It was necessary for the recruits to remain conscious, and so they had to live through all that was done to them. She learned to block out the most of the voices, her new training by Alpha helping her.

As time went by, it was revealed to her what exactly they were doing to the young boys. They were altering their flesh, but not to make their extremities stronger, bigger, more durable or faster. They did not install additional lungs or hearts, nothing of that sort, where would someone even get such ideas?

They were making them Aura users.

The male children were implanted with something the Apothecaries called a "Geneseed," a revered biological organ that would transfer the ability to use Aura powers to even those with barely no natural aptitude, as well as some mental molding. The implants were touched by the power of the Gods, most not greatly but with the subtlest of exposure, ensuring the influence of the Pantheon upon the recruits. They were mass producing Aura users, the most powerful beings on the planet. They were making genetically modified warriors.

* * *

As Kaltrina was refilling a water bottle, she glanced around the Apothecarion, her eyes pulled to the empty beds spaced among the ones still occupied. There were far fewer of the children remaining, just barely over a half of the number there had been when she had first stepped in this room all those months ago. Some of them just did not endure the implantation. Any that died early were unceremoniously removed from the Apothecarion, their corpses taken away and discreetly disposed. Those that did not reject the Geneseed and survived to the later stages, but were on the verge of failing and death because of their own weakness, had their bodies scavenged by the Apothecaries who sought to save the precious implantations whose host was perishing.

There were not as much screaming in the room anymore. All the implantations were done and now it was just a mater waiting which ones survived to the end of the transformation into Aura users.

There were only eight of the girls other than herself left, tending the recruits with the even fewer cultists serfs. One had died of infection soon after she had wounded herself with a dirty surgeon tool. The other was killed by a Legionnaire on the corridors of the palace for "failing to show respect".

It was just the nine of them that formed the Hydra Network, which was a rather grand name for bunch of kids still in training, but the Legionnaires of the XXth insisted on using the name. There had apparently been many more people in the network, but they were not around anymore, a similar situation with all the Legions. It seemed slightly weird to her how the Legionnaires held on to the ancient ways, despite the current reality being very wretched for them.

She walked with the filled bottle in one hand, a bucketful of water and rags in the other, passing between the beds with young boys lying on them almost motionless and silent. Most of their eyes were closed, and very few could be said to look healthy. Some of them never said anything, and some on the other hand only let out meaningless gibberish. She made her way past many of them, finally arriving by one bet near the corner of the room. There was a boy resting on it, flanked by two empty beds that had previously had an occupant of their own. He was the same boy who had used the gun to stop her food from being stolen when they were being held in the storehouse, the same that had tried to help her escape when the Legionnaires arrived.

She placed the bucket on the floor next to her, crouched to drench one of the rags in the cool water, and then proceeded to place it onto the boy's forehead that was unnervingly hot. He had not talked to her, he had not even opened his eyes in her presence since his implantation. He had been one of the first ones the Apothecaries operated, so she had not yet been present during his implantation, which Kaltrina was glad since she did not have to hear his screams. His expression was that of a sleeping person, but of one having unnerving dreams. As Kaltrina fixed a plank laid over him, he could briefly see the ugly scars left by the implantation in his chest and his neck.

She did not care about the others, even about the other recruit of the XXth that was two beds away from where she was crouching by the bed. She stared at the face that no longer resembled its original form, but there was still something left that she could recognize. _If he would only live. If only he was strong enough to live._

He left the water bottle next to the boy, where it would ready when he would require imbibing. She was just about turn away and return to other task so that nobody would blame her for lingering, but at that moment the boy left out a small, almost inaudible sound from between his dry lips. She immediately crouched back, looming by his side and waiting for something.

And then he opened his eyes. The boy's eyes were hazy, unfocused like he had just woken from a deep dream. The left eye was fully green, but the right one still had a slight spot of original gray visible in the corner, where the change that was also turning his hair blue had not yet completely prevailed. He looked around, and finally spotted Kaltrina next to him.

He just stared, his eyes sharpening and then focusing again as he tried to make sense of the world around him.

Kaltrina smiled. A gentle, happy smile formed on her lips that had not formed the expression in quite a while. "Hey," she said, before calling his name.

The young and weak boy frowned a little, before actually opening his mouth and speaking for the first time since arriving here. "That… it not my name…" His voice was hoarse, untuned by the long period of unused, but it still resonated clearly enough for her to understand. "I am Alpharius…" he said, while his hand moved to rub his other shoulder, where a very recent and fresh tattoo of the great Hydra was displayed.

A tear flowed down Katrina's cheek, and her smile only grew more sincere. "Yes…" she said with a frail happiness in her voice, her right hand reaching to touch the boy's hand, while her left hand proceeded to touch the same symbol of the three headed snake on her own shoulder. "Yes you are…"

* * *

 **Woah, this long chapter will probably not come again in a while. If there are any question left in your mind about Venatores, please voice them to me so that I might handle them in future chapters.**

 **Big thanks to DragonTurte 3, who helped with proofreading this chapter and will also hopefully help with future chapters. His help came at just the right moment, since there was so much stuff with this chapter that needed tweaking.**

 **Last one of the four (you will never guess who) has been posted on my DevianArt Profile, as well as the full version of the team poster. If you could tell me which of the four Venatore pictures looks best in your opinion, I would like to know. Also, try guessing in which order I made them, I wonder if anybody gets the exact order right. I might try to think up some sort of prize if you get them all right.**

 **Leave a review, if you feel it in your heart, and have a nice day.**


	11. Chapter 11

**Almost did not manage to get this one out when I did. Imagine just how terrible it would have been if it had been released tomorrow instead of today!**

* * *

 **Chaos is the Prize Chapter 11**

The world was burning in _its_ infernal gaze. When Ruby looked at it, it felt like she was about to be consumed in the thirsting storm of malevolent fire, and she could not turn away from it. If she tried to close her eyes, it still burned just as bright through her eyelids. If she tried to turn away, she found she could not escape it, for its presence was everywhere and its focus was on her. She wanted it to go away, but there was nothing she could do to escape or banish it. It was fire, destruction and oblivion. It burned her, and she would have screamed in agony if she had been able to.

And then it was gone. A complete darkness was all that surrounded her, like a guarding curtain that protected from the fiery light of doom from scorching her. It was wonderful in its soothing coolness, that was the greatest thing in the world after the heat.

The darkness was however starting to reveal what it hid from her, like her eyes got used to it after the light was taken away. She saw the usual ghostly stone floor and walls, as the familiar place emerged from the darkness. As always, it was not the location she had exactly been, but once again some different corner.

And Nox was there. He was sitting on a perfect rectangular building block only an arm's length away on Ruby's left, staring passively into the darkness of the corners. He seemed calm, like there was nothing for him to do and as so he just chose to sit there doing nothing.

"Did you see it?" Ruby asked.

Nox looked at her from the corner of his eyes. "What?"

Ruby was silent for a moment, trying to find the words to describe what she had just witnessed. "I saw..." she started cautiously. "I saw an eye. An eye that would devour everything I know and care about if given the chance," she managed to say.

Nox nodded, not looking at her. It seemed tonight's state for him was calmness.

"Did you not see it?" Ruby asked. "What did you see?"

Nox was silent for a long time before he pulled a deep breath. "I saw the Eye. The Eye that will devour me unless I feed it with everything else before it takes me," he said without emotion on his pale face. "Fuck the Eye."

Ruby did not know what to say, as she did not understand, so she remained quiet. Her attention was in a following instance captured by a noise from behind her, that resembled a sound of battle. She spun on her heels, and was greeted by a strange sight. There were six figures maybe ten meters from her. Five of them were in a wide circle around a much bigger form, that Ruby immediately recognized as a Beowolf. And the smaller shapes circling around it were… kids. There were five kids, slowly going around the Beowolf that was watching them with a predatory attention, but there was also little uncertainty in its red glaring eyes.

Ruby focused to observe the children and made an interesting discovery. One of them had an unremarkable brown hair, but four of them all had a extremely pale skin and dark hair. The four of them looked so much alike, that Ruby was pretty sure they were siblings. And they looked somewhat familiar. They looked like Nox. She was not close enough to see their eyes in the darkness, but she was suddenly sure all of them had the same obsidian eyes as the boy sitting next to Ruby.

They were really young, Ruby estimated ten or eleven at most. All of the boys held in their hands what looked like crude weapons, that were a far cry from proper huntsman weaponry. Some sharp edged pieces of gleaming metal, which hardly deserved to be even called swords or daggers. All of the unimpressive looking weapons were directed solely at the lone creature of Grimm in the middle of the circle, and both the Grimm and the children seemed to be waiting for a moment to strike.

"What is this?" Ruby asked bewildered.

"The first kill," Nox said solemnly.

The youth with brown hair looked like he was about to lose it and just charge the Beowolf. The other four were cautiously closing the distance, little by little, creeping towards their prey.

"They look just like you. Do you know who they are?," Ruby asked. The five of them and the Grimm seemed like they could not sense her and Nox, totally oblivious that somebody was watching them from a mere ten meters away.

Taking a better pose, Nox looked at the small humans that were enclosing the soulless predator. "Yes," he said simply.

Ruby glanced at him. "Well, who are they?"

Nox raised a hand and pointed with his index finger at the white skinned boy on the right with a bit longer hair than the others. "Otieno…" Nox spoke a name. He moved his hand to point at the second kid, nearest to him and Ruby. "Rajnish..." He focussed on the third. "Shyama..." he lowered his hand to rest against his knee.

"What about the fourth one?" Ruby asked as she nodded at the pale kid Nox had jumped over.

"That is me," Nox responded.

* * *

Nox rubbed his temple with a hint of frustration as he sat down to the breakfast table across from Azuhrius. He should have been as rested as it was possible for him since he had slept once again through the weekend, so Azuhrius did not understand what was going on.

"Is there something wrong," Azuhrius asked from Nox as the pale boy started to consume a large pile of bacon on his plate.

Nox glanced at him. "Red like roses fills my dreams…" he muttered before stuffing his mouth with more food.

"What?", Azuhrius asked for clarification.

"Nothing," Nox waved the matter aside.

Azuhrius looked at him for a moment longer before returning his attention to the group sitting on his left side consisting of members from three other teams. Orchid and Sangur were not present, and Azuhrius hopped that his two missing teammates were not somewhere beating each other's heads in.

"So, has any of your teams thought about the tournament?" Yang inquired with a brisk tone as she spooned a big spoonful of pudding into her mouth. The fiery blond girl really, really seemed to like the that particular brand of pudding, as there were couple of empty containers in front of her already, that she had brought to the dining hall. She was sitting furthest away from Azuhrius, and was the only member of Team RWBY sitting at the table at the moment. Blake had also been here just a minute ago, but she had dissolved away like a shadow.

"That is still pretty far ahead," Teale commented across from Azuhrius, next to Nox. "There will be plenty of time to consider everything about it."

"Consider? As if you actually are going to miss participation in it," Yang said as her spoon worked between her and her doomed pudding.

"Well, I think there is some pretty heavy competition," Oliver said from between Teale and Yang. "Pyrrha, you have experience with tournaments. How high level do you think it will be?"

The red haired girl turned from Jaune who was sitting between her and Azuhrius. "Well, it is the Vytal festival. I don't believe you can really do better than that. Most of the current students of all the Huntsman Academies from all over the Remnant are taking part, so it should be quite a challenge to even get past the first rounds of combat."

"Your team should be fine. I take you are seriously competing for the victory," Yang said cheerily. "Too bad Team Ruby is going to steal the victory right under your noses.

"Oh yeah," Jaune surprisingly responded to Yang's playful provocation. "We took down a giant scorpion the second day of the school, I think we have a decent chance."

"Big scorpions are not dangerous," Oliver said smugly. "They are not poisonous. It is the little ones that need to be watched out for."

As Jaune, Oliver and Yang continued to squabble, Teale turned to Azuhrius. "So, what about your team?"

Of course Azuhrius had thought about it, and he had found no reason for his team to participate. There was no perceivable benefit in participation for him and his plans, so it would have been waste of time and effort. He also seriously questioned _some_ of his teammates' ability to have a tournament style duels so that they would stop early enough for their opponent not to meet their untimely demise. No names who, but if he would have given names, they would have started with S and O.

"I don't think my team is going to participate," Azuhrius said with a neutral tone. He did not see a reason not to tell Teale, but he certainly was not going to tell her the real reasons.

Teale's eyes widened in surprise. "What? You are not? How come? Surely you are qualified, and it is not like winning is the most important thing, just the participation should be a great experience."

Azuhrius shrugged lightly. "I personally would like to pass, as I don't find that sort of competition agreeable." It was kinda true, he did not like fair fighting and duels. "Not when I am the one in the arena. And I think my team has really much work to be done in the teamwork department." Nox glanced at Azuhrius as he said that, not with any sort of malice, but with a genuine agreement. Azuhrius decided to guide the attention away from him and his team. "So I take you and the Team TACO is in for it?"

Teale smiled with a mix of excitement and uneasiness. "Well, it is the Vytal festival, it is not like that kind of thing can just be missed out on. I, and my team as far we have talked about it, think it will be really enjoyable event for us if we take part in the tournament. It will also be great way to test and hone our skills, to see how much we have learned, you know."

"Yeah, I can understand. I wish you luck."

At that moment something happened that Azuhrius would not have thought would happen before come the apocalypse: Nox's scroll let out a sound indicating the arrival of a message. The incident was unique in the history of mankind.

Nox looked almost as surprised as Azuhrius at the sudden and unexpected phenomenon, but he dig up his scroll from his pocket and, with a moment of struggle with the ultra complicated device, opened it. The black eyes moved for a short while as they read the content of whatever was in the message. Then the Progeny of the VIIIth rose from his seat with a sudden grin on his lips, without even bothering to take the tray on which his half eaten food was.

"What's going on?" Azuhrius asked, somewhat worried about what would demand such an unthinkable thing as messaging Nox through his scroll.

"Sangur and Orchid are hitting their own heads into a wall to see who falls down first," Nox explained with rare excitement as he marched away. "I am going to watch!"

Some of the others let out a worried laugh and Teale had an awkward smile on her face as Azuhrius let out a massive sigh and cast his head down. Sometimes he wondered how he was able to deal with what he did. "The things I would have done to have someone like you on my team…" he murmured shortly to Teale, whose cheeks reddened just a bit, before he took both his and Nox's trays and headed after his pale teammate.

* * *

Blake walked out from the building into the yard of the academy, seeking a good reading spot, but the book she was holding was already open and the pages under her gaze. She looked up only so much that she knew where she was going and did not bump into anyone on the way. Her shoes stopped making hard noises as she stepped from the pavement and continued to walk on the healthy green grass.

The book she was holding was engrossing, but so were most of the books she picked up for reading, what would have been the point otherwise. It told a tale about a war ship that crashed on an unfamiliar shore, long after the ending of the war it had been fighting in. The story followed how the crew and the soldiers on board met up with local people and how their coexistence and eventual fusing happened.

She really liked the description of the two groups coming together and how they even after many trials managed to coexist peacefully. How they realized they were not so different after all. The development of the character was masterfully done, and she was was sure she would take a look at the other works of the author.

Blake knew just the perfect place for her to sit down and really immerse herself in the last chapters of the book. There was a large tree in a somewhat unfrequented corner of the yard that she really liked. Sitting under its shadow, laying against its stable trunk, listening the wind to gush the leaves above and a good book at her hands. What more could she want?

The tree was now directly ahead of Blake as he quickly glanced up from his book for the heading. She walked forward, finally reaching the large shadow the thick tree was casting on the otherwise sunbathing grass area.

Just as Blake was about to sit down and be swallowed by the awesome piece of literature in her hands, she realized to her surprise there was already someone sitting in the cool shade against the tree. She had been so captured by her book that she had not noticed the boy under the tree, despite him being directly ahead of her with nothing to obscure vision.

She lowered her book and looked down at Orchid of Team ASON who was taking it easy against the wood, his eyes closed and a strangely serene expression on his face of perfect skin. His longish white hair falling down the right side of his head was swaying slightly as the wind caressed it gently. He also had a rather big bandage on his forehead for some reason.

Before Blake could do anything, his eyes opened, the pink and misty irises looking right up to her despite his otherwise slack features. Blake did not really like the look in those vivid yet shrouded eyes. She had noticed it on those rare times when her and Orchid's eyes had met during school time, and if she had to describe it, she would have said the look on his eyes always seemed like he had never seen a girl before. She had never spoken to him before, and so far this was the closest encounter she had had with him. She was not exactly sure what kind of person he was.

"Hello… " He said with a light and calm tone, closing his eyes for a while before opening them again.

"Hey," Blake said, answering to the greeting, for what else was there to do.

"Would you like a drink?" Orchid said without chance in his voice.

It was at that moment that Blake noticed a coppery goblet on Orchid's left hand that was on the ground level next to him. She could see into the rather fancy looking cup, and it was half filled with deep red liquid. The vibrant color and the luscious smell of the liquid strongly brought the forest of Forever Fall into her mind. And it seemed like the smell grew stronger as she looked at it.

"What is it?" Blake asked, wondering what was in the gleaming container.

"Something exquisite. Something wonderful. Why don't you take a sip?" Orchid said, raising the goblet and offering it upwards to her from where he was sitting. The scent of the cup's content was growing even more intense, making Blake wonder how she had not smelled it way before.

"I don't think we are allowed to drink any sort of liquor on the school grounds. Or at all, since we are under age," she replayed, eyeing the scarlet liquid, somehow the idea of refusing losing weight.

"Oh, don't worry, there is not a single drop of alcohol in this drink," Orchid replayed with a serene and light smile. "I promise you, it will be the best thing you have ever tasted, I guarantee it…"

Blake found her hand reaching out to take the cup, slightly surprising herself. _Best thing you have ever tasted? That is a big claim._ But her interest had been wakened, and idea of not even giving it a shot just did not feel right. Her fingers touched the coppery cup, sliding slowly along it's length. _What would be the problem with just testing it?_ The deep aroma flowing from the drink was now getting so intense, that she actually had to take deeper breaths. The smell was so strong and vibrant, full of promises that the main deal would be even better.

Blake's finger started to curl around the goblet Orchid was generously offering her. There was a rather weird and sharp tint into his eyes suddenly, but Blake did not pay it much mind. She was just about the clasp the cup firmly enough for her to lift it. _Just a sip._

Suddenly, the metallic container holding the strange red drink was grabbed from her hands, and taken away from her reach. She turned to look who had taken it, a sudden spike of anger in her mind for some reason. She watched as the blue haired boy next to her, who she had not sensed approaching, reached out with his hand that was holding the goblet and poured the crimson liquid to the ground.

The drink shimmered in the air as the small red stream and droplets were in the air for just a shortest of instances, before they disappeared, pulled by the gravity and drained by the thirsty ground. Blake could just stare at the spot on the ground that had devoured the liquid, and only raised her gaze as the one who had thrown away the drink spoke.

"Sorry about that," Azuhrius said as he flailed the cup, sending one last gleaming red tear to fly away. "Orchid, I need to discuss some matters with you, could you come with me?"

"Sure," Orchid said, seemingly completely unfazed by the fate of his drink. He stood up, took the now empty goblet and started walking after Azuhrius who was leading them away from the tree and Blake.

Suddenly Blake was alone. _What was I just doing_. She turned her head as he wondered. _Oh yeah, the book._ She raised the book, sat down on the now vacant spot that had been cleared of Orchid's, and returned to read her amazing book.

* * *

"Hey Yang," Ruby called out to her sister.

Yang looked up from the magazine she had been reading, the spoon she used to eat her delicious pudding sticking from her mouth. She had really become attached (more like addicted) to that particular brand of pudding, Ruby though. There were several empty containers lying in a circle around Yang, and there were many more scattered around their dorm room. Seriously, there were absurd amount of them, and they were everywhere. Just yesterday, Ruby had even found one from her secret cookie box, and had of course immediately proceeded to relocate her treasures into more secure location. Her dear sister would soon have a long talk with Weiss about the appropriate condition of one's residence, and for once Ruby actually thought someone deserved to suffer the wrath of the Ice Queen.

"Come on, Team JNPR is treating us pancakes!" Ruby exclaimed from the doorway, flanked by the said team and the rest of RWBY, minus Weiss who was somewhere plotting her spying mission to Vale because of the contestants arriving for the tournament.

"Coming." Yang did not need to be told twice, and she jumped on her feet, the spoon still in her mouth. It looked like she would take it with her, as she marched to the door with the utensil still with her.

They exited the room, locked the door behind them and gathered on the opposite side of the hallway, in front of Team JNPR's room.

"What is going on? Normally you guys don't have problem finishing your delicious pancakes", Yang said as she gave a nod to Ren, the undeniable master chef of the first year class. Ruby wondered if she could somehow convince him that cookies are superior to pretty much anything in every way and he should totally make some in the future and share them around. Maybe she could give him advice and he would let him taste test his bakings.

"Well, it just happens that someone~" Pyrrha glanced at Nora. "Convinced Ren to make five times the normal portion and now we have so much surplus that we don't know what to do with all of it."

"Yeah, at first we tried to take care of it with the power of appetite and Nora, but it was just too much," Jaune said as he searched for the key to their room from his pockets. "Nora is actually just back from the infirmary because of stomach pains."

¾ of Team RWBY looked at Nora, baffled by the possibility of such an incident.

"We had a lot of syrup." Ren said with a monotone voice.

"A Lot," Jaune said as he finally opened the door. As the way to Team JNPR's room was opened, an unexpected sight greeted both the teams standing in the doorway, now frozen on their feet.

There was a figure standing with his metallic raptor legs on top of the table by the opened window, with a package of pancakes wrapped in plastic on his hand, and a much bigger loot sack on over his shoulder. The black eyes turned to look at the people who had suddenly emerged from the door, the same cold eyes Ruby had seen in her dreams lately.

Without a word from anybody, Nox threw the last pack of pancakes into his massive bag, turned lightning fast on his heels and jumped out of the open window into the dimming evening.

There was a perfectly frozen moment as all of the members of the two teams processed what they had just seen, with only the chilly wind whining from the window.

Then: "HE TOOK OUR PANCAKES!" Nora let out a cry of misery and anger.

"GET HIM!" Yang yelled.

Ruby could only watch as the ginger and blond haired girls rumbled to the window with a speed of sound and jumped headfirst after the pancake thief, with a warcry bellowing from their lips.

* * *

 **I think this is a chapter stepping furthest away from canon. No way Nora would have stomach pains from eating too many pancakes.**

 **Please leave review, if you feel it in your heart, and have a nice day.**


	12. Chapter 12

**And now, let the Grand Pancake Heist continue.**

* * *

 **Chaos is the Prize Chapter 12**

"Hmm, interesting," Orchid mumbled as he reached the end of his long research and testing, finally concluding he had made a curious discovery. He lowered a tiny cylinder containing pure white substance into his portable drug lab and raised his gaze from it. _This makes so much sense._

"What is interesting?" Azuhrius asked from top of his bed where he was going through monstrous piles of data slates that he had pillaged from the library to quench his desire to know more than other people.

"I have made a curious discovery," Orchid said without turning to face the sole other occupant of the dorm room.

"Really?" Azuhrius said, and Orchid could detect just a hint of suspicion that the alleged discovery would not be Remnant shattering. "What do you have?"

Orchid turned halfway around. "I have discovered an mixture that makes a person brutish, bloodthirsty, violent, heedless of their own safety and significantly lowers their ability for rational thinking."

Azuhrius raised an eyebrow. "Really?" he said again, this time with some interest, but still retaining skeptical tone.

"Yeah, I have some right here," Orchid said as he offered a vial filled with liquid to Azuhrius.

The Legionnaire of the XXth took the vial and looked at it against the light coming from the ceiling lamp.

"It is not toxic in any way, and it only starts taking effect when consumed in large quantities," Orchid said, hoping that Azuhrius would sip the vial to taste it.

Azuhrius however just lowered the container and kept it firmly away from his mouth, in a gesture that Orchid imagined said: _Yeah, nice try, I am NOT going to drink this._

It was at that moment Sangur opened the door and walked into the dorm room, proceeding to sit down on his own bed with his chainaxes securely within reach.

"Ah, Sangur perfect timing," Azuhrius said with a positive tone. "Here drink this," he said while offering the mixture to the fucking brutish brute. "It helps when it is time to spill blood."

The savage of the Blood God took the vial without hesitation and without thinking through it further just fucking gulped all it contained down his throat, without second guessing. Orchid was mentally cursing for not slipping some toxins into it.

Sangur lowered the now empty container as he took in the taste of the mixture. "This is really good," he said with approval. "It tastes just like milk and cornflakes."

"Well, that is because there is not much else in it," Orchid stated.

It was at that moment the three of them heard a loud crash echoed from beyond the window.

* * *

The blonde and the ginger girls smashed to the ground with the force of a meteor, leaving a respectable crater in the yard, but were immediately up and in pursuit. They rushed after him like bloodthirsty Beowolves, and Nox would have actually preferred to be chased after by such creatures.

He was already climbing up a wall of another building, his raptor feet making fast work up the wall by stepping on window frames despite the weighty sack in his back filled with stolen pancakes. He was facing horizontally on the roof in an instant, but when he glanced down, he saw his pursuers were already ravaging up the wall not far after him. Nox took off like coiled lightning, sprinting on the rooftop as fast as his legs and his precious cargo would allow. He jumped over a short fall between two buildings, sparing a glance backwards as he reached the other structure.

He just barely managed to avoid a swirling ginger missile of death as the blond girl launched her comrade in pursuit at Nox, missing only because his reflexes stopped him just in time to avoid it. He continued to flee with all the mastery he could, slowly starting to realise this was might not be such an easy escape.

 _How. Can. They. Be. So. FAST!_ He was panting, managing to stay ahead of them with his exceptional running talent despite the additional weight of his spoils. Nox suddenly pulled to a halt, his taloned legs screeching against the roof tiles. Yang was standing ahead of him, blocking his way forward. She must have taken a way around after giving Nora a boost. Nox glanced behind him and saw the orange haired girl emerge from behind the roofs edge, her face showing an expression that would not have been out of place on Sangur's face during battle.

Nox stood his ground, the loot bag still hurled over his shoulder, realizing he was cornered. None of the three of them was armed, but Nox did not doubt for a moment that either of the girls could make him a wet smear on the ground even in bare handed combat.

"Drop the pancakes, and nobody gets hurt!" Yang yelled, her voice not quite convincing.

"Yeah, if you do it now, you can keep four teeth of your choosing, and a part of your spine!" Nora exclaimed with a generous offer of her own.

Nox stood between them, constantly shifting his gaze to see from which side the first attack would come. He was not fond of fighting on even ground, and he most certainly did not like fighting against superior numbers like this. He had blundered into the role of underdog in this situation, and part of him wanted to drop his bounty and save his hide by fleeing. But sometimes running away was not the way to go. Sometimes, however rarely, there were things worth staying and fighting for. He squeezed his hand around the sack more tightly. Now was that kind of moment.

"If you want them," Nox said with a forced grin. "Come and take them…"

Nora was the first to move. She spat forward like a cannon shot, coming towards Nox as a fury driven bolt.

Nox saw her coming and turned to face her. It felt like time slowed down for that moment. Nora coming closer, her hand reaching for the valuable bag, and her other hand for Nox's throat. Closer, closer all the time. Her fingers were almost touching Nox already. And as he came closer, unable to change her course anymore, Nox opened his mouth.

There was an unbearable screech of a releasing sonic boom as Nox used his Semblance for offense. His Semblance worked as a sonic radar of sort, but it could also be overcharged to produce this kind of an effect. The focused noise was monstrous. Nora had no chance of avoiding it, and she took it right into her face point blank.

The result was instant. Completely disordered by Nox's sudden debilitating attack, Nora lost control and Nox effortlessly avoided her crashing frame as it flew past him. The girl smashed against the roof tiles and spun forward along them because of her great momentum.

Nox wasted no time and spurted into movement, using the pathway opened by his Semblance. His machine legs carried him swiftly, reliably spurred towards getting him out of here. He was not giving up his plunder.

* * *

Orchid's ears perked. _That symphony… Not bad._

After couple of minutes, the door of their dorm room opened and Nox rushed in. Orchid turned to look at the hurried and alert figure, and noticed that he was carrying a sack on his back. He wondered what could be in it.

Nox turned his head around in alert, scanning the room that was only occupied by him and Orchid.

"Where is Sangur?!" Nox asked with urgent voice as he peeked over his shoulder.

Orchid wondered what was going on. "The blood brute and Azuhrius left just a moment ago. Azuhrius went to library, and the savage is probably patrolling around in hope of finding something to kill."

"I need him." Nox said. "I need his help with-" There were loud noises coming from the open corridor behind Nox. Footsteps like abused drums, escorted by a feminine cry of "THIIIEEEEF!"

Nox panicked. "Oh no, they have come for me!" He ran to the window opened it, and jumped out just when the busty blonde from Team RWBY and the short ginger girl from Team JNPR came into view in the doorway. The blonde was armed with a very dangerous looking spoon for some reason, held in a vice grip. They dived after Nox through the window and suddenly Orchid was alone in the room again.

 _What is going on?_ He shrugged and turned to his drug lab again, but it did not take long for running noises to return from the hallway.

Orchid turned to look, just as Nox rushed into the room again.

"Oh, you are back." Orchid said as Nox slammed the door behind him and fell to the floor in front of it. Orchid heard pair of feet stopping behind the other side of the closed door.

"HA!" Nox said while panting slightly. "Now there is a door between us!" he exclaimed with glee as if the door in question was his savior. "That means I am safe from you. Now, you could try to break the door, but I don't think you have that in you. School property and all. So I am untouchable!"

The two girls on the other side proceeded to make a tactical move most ingenuous. They _opened_ the door. The two girls stood in the open doorway, looking down on Nox and his mystery bag laying on the floor in front of the door.

"AAAAHH!" Nox screamed, got up and turned faster than humanly possible, and once again jumped out of the still open window. The females naturally went right after him.

 _What in the name of the Dark Price is going on?_ Orchid rose up from the floor he was sitting, went to the door, closed it and locked it firmly. Then he returned his attention to his lab, and got immersed into his own business. In the coming hour, he did not let himself be bothered by any of the occasional hammering of the door and the useless abuse of the handle.

* * *

As Azuhrius returned from the school library, scroll and data slates full of information as always, he could not help but to be thankful for the opportunity being in the Beacon Academy. The library of the huntsman school was a treasure chest to someone who could appreciate it. He had spotted Sangur in the library, and at first he thought he had been hallucinating. His teammate had marched in, walked around for a moment seemingly without purpose and then left without touching anything. Azuhrius thought that maybe Sangur was on a patrol to see if there happened to be skulls around in need of urgent claiming for the Skull Throne.

As Azuhrius got closer to the dorm rooms, he started hearing strange sound ahead. Before he could wonder that much more what it might be, Nox came around a corner in the end of the corridor, with a strange sack bouncing over his shoulder, running like every Grimm from here to Terra was after him.

Nox spotted Azuhrius, and after couple of more striding steps from his mechanized legs pulled to a halt next to Azuhrius.

"What are you doing?" he inquired from Nox who was panting next to him.

"I am being chased and Orchid locked me out of the dorm room," Nox said as he glanced over his shoulder.

Azuhrius could hear rumble of footsteps coming from the direction Nox had come from, and the sound made the pale boy jump in alert. "Oh no, here they come again. Say to them I went right from here," Nox said, and jumped around the corner to the left of Azuhrius.

Before Azuhrius could say or do anything, she was suddenly confronted by two fury driven Deamons of the Blood God, but upon closer inspection he realized they were, in fact, Yang Xiao Long from Team RWBY and Nora Valkyrie from the Team JNPR.

"Where did he go?!" they both bellowed with a synchronized voices, and Azuhrius just pointed to the corridor starting right from where he stood. The two girls rushed on the way he had pointed for them with a sound of thunderbolt, and they soon vanished from his sight.

"What was that about?" Azuhrius asked as Nox peaked around the corner of the opposite corridor. He was actually kinda surprised that Nox had trusted him enough with feeding misinformation and had stayed there despite the danger. "They looked like you stole their first born children or something like that."

"Even better!" Nox said motioning with his free hand to the bag he was carrying. "You see this bag? It is full of pancakes," he said with a tone that almost, just almost, had a happy emotion behind it.

Before Azuhrius could say anything else, Nox had already turned around and was drifting away. "Gotta go," he quipped over his shoulder, just before he bumped into Jaune Arc and Pyrrha Nikos at the end of the corridor. "Oh shiiiiiit!" Nox let out before pulling a 180 degree turn and rushing back and past Azuhrius. The two members of Team JNPR gave pursuit, and soon Azuhrius was alone again.

* * *

"How could this happen to me..." Nox whined as he was his back against wall, cornered by Team JNPR and 3/4 of Team RWBY. They had chased him with superior numbers, surrounding and blocking his escape routes until it had finally come to this. He could not even try to climb to the roof along the building walls on his sides, because Blake and Ren were up there ready to stop him. There was no way of him fighting or running out of all these people, Nox knew it. Even the advantage that his legs would have given as a some sort of weapon against his unarmed assailants was overcome by such numbers.

Nora and Yang, the arch-pursuers, were standing in the front of rest of them, cracking their knuckles threateningly with an expression that told Nox his death would not be painless. "End of the road, pancake thief," Yang said as she stepped closer, spoon held up like a sacrificial dagger.

 _Could I use Sonar boom to stun them? No, There is too many of them, I will never strike them all._

Nox took a step backwards, almost touching the brick wall behind him. His black eyes snapped upwards to the orange tinted sundown that peaked behind the corner of the building on his left, casting its dimming light as if mocking him and shining off the spoon on Yang's hand as if blessing it.

 _And the Sun just looks down upon all this leisurely, calm as shit. Everything is going according its plans. Cunning fucker, I will yet make you pay._

Nox glanced around desperately once more. _Time to resort to negotiation_. He lowered the sack carefully to the ground, and then raised one of his metallic legs above it, the sharp talons gleaming threateningly. Everybody else present were completely still, and some let out silent gasps.

"Not a step closer, or the pancakes will pay for it!" Nox declared his ultimatum. He could see the scorn in Yang's indigo (or wait, where they red right now?) eyes, and the building and unstoppable rage in Nora's aquamarine ones. But he could also see their concern over the safety of the innocent tasty goods. He could exploit that.

"You… you despicable creature…" Nora growled.

Nox let out a arrogant huff. He was a Legionnaire of the VIIIth to his core, being despicable was in his blood. He could see Ruby turn away and covering her eyes, the situation too terrible for the innocent girl to watch, which brought a smile to Nox's face

"You wouldn't." Jaune said, frozen by this turn of events.

"He's bluffing!" Yang exclaimed. "He wouldn't dare to do it."

Nox squinted his eyes at her with a vicious look. "Can you take that risk?"

"No, we can't. This is not something that can taken lightly," Jaune said. "The fate of innocent pancakes are on the line."

"Very easily pancakes get hurt these days when people don't listen" Nox said. He was having a rare mental struggle in his mind. He knew he could do it and would do it as a last resort. If he could not have them, then nobody could. But there was a weak mental voice that made him hesitate, just a little. Was he really that ruthless? Was he really that nefarious? As he looked at the bag lying motionless at his feet, he knew he really was.

At that moment a way out of the dire situation presented itself to Nox and he smiled when he noticed it. "Hey! Sangur!"

* * *

Sangur was patrolling around to see if there there was something to kill around, but so far he had not produced any results. He was walking across the yard when he heard Nox's voice, and he turned to face it when his name was shouted. Nox was in a corner between buildings, surrounded by people Sangur recognized from the class. He started walking towards them, and saw that Nox was waving his hand for him.

"Sangur, these people are after me! Help me out here!" Nox yelled while the other students started glancing at between the two of them.

Sangur was not sure what was going on, but Nox needed help, and he would sure provide some. He reached them, stomping in front of the blonde boy, who gazed up to his red eyes with unease. "What seems to be the problem?" he grunted while eyeing the blonde who seemed like he wanted to duck behind the redhead next to him.

"He… your teammate stole something from us and we just want him to return it," the boy said with a slightly trembling voice.

"You have a problem with him?" Sangur said, pulling one chainaxe from his back.

The boy paled but bravely stood his ground… for 5 seconds before jumping aside and vanishing behind his female teammate.

The Battle Maiden raised her hands in some sort of calming gesture, but Sangur just felt up the axe's teeth with his thumb and stalked one step closer. The Red Reaper also approached with an unsure look on her small face. As far as Sangur could see it, no one beside him present had a weapon. _A shame._

"Sangur! Nox cried out as he snatched up a sack from his feet. "You have a special permission to smack these people a little, as long as you don't activate the chains."

At first Sangur was not sure he had heard correctly, but his hand moved faster then his mind. The deactivated chainaxe came forward in a swing, but connected to nothing as all those around him quickly jumped backwards. He started moving forward, advancing with his axe ready to strike at anybody who dared to come too close.

The other students were scattering around Sangur, at it was at that moment that Nox made his move. The pale boy was suddenly in motion, using the lapse in his assailants' attention. He reached the wall on his left, and with his metallic legs ran against the wall, trying to bypass the people that cornered him. Tried.

She Who Hammers crashed into Nox in the middle of his escape, sending them both crashing into the ground in ball that cried out in alarm and fury.

Sangur let out a short growl and tried to reach his companion in peril, but the Battle Maiden charged him. She used her speed and agility to jump forward, and swept her hand across the side of his Axe, pulling out of his reach before Sangur's counter attack could form. She stood in front of him in a safe distance, her right hand extended like she was about to grasp air. "Put your weapon away," she said to him her green eyes calm but demanding.

Sangur let out an amused grunt. "Make me."

The Battle Maiden swiped her hand in the air, like she was moving something only she could see. There was an almost invisible shimmering around her hand and Sangur felt extremely faint, almost nonexistent tug of the weapon in his hand. But nothing more, and the sensation vanished without anything happening.

The redhead seemed surprised, her mouth opening slightly as if something unexpected had happened.

Sangur let out growl and charged.

* * *

Azuhrius could hear from a far away that something was going on. The yelling, the roaring, and in the end it even started raining Jaunes. Azuhrius was walking outside along the yard towards the discord, when a the blonde boy soared in the air from ahead and landed in bush right next to him. Azuhrius pulled to a halt and stared at this ragged yellow creature that had just recently evolved the ability to fly.

"Oooouuch... " Jaune groaned from the embrace of the bush.

"What happened?" Azuhrius asked as he stepped closer to look upon defeated leader of Team JNPR.

"Axe happened..." Jaune moaned.

Azuhrius felt a strange feeling swelling inside of him. "Did this axe happen to be red with teeth?"

"Yeah..."

"I asume that way?" Azuhrius asked, nodding at the direction Jaune had flown from.

"Yeah…"

Azuhrius started moving with a hasty pace. "Thank you, and sorry about my teammate. I will go and see if further damage can be contained."

"Yeah, you do that. I will just stay and secure this area…" Jaune said as he slumped deeper into the bush.

Jaune fell behind, but before Azuhrius had taken more than a dozen of steps, something soft smashed into his face. He grabbed it, and reached it out for him to spectate. It was a familiar looking sack, and when he peeked inside, he could indeed see pancakes wrapped in plastic inside. When he strode forward, he could see a big swirling dust cloud in a corner of buildings, with a flashes of bright clothing and a chainaxe sticking out of it from time to time, accompanied by screams and roars.

 _The things I have to put up with_.

* * *

"I am terribly, terribly, sorry on behalf of my team." Azuhrius said while he handed the bag containing pancakes to the Valkyrie girl, who eagerly took it and hugged it like her first born child. Pyrrha was pretty sure she saw some tears of joy.

Sangur was standing behind his team leader, axes hanged away and face with a sour expression. There should have been someone pale and black eyed also present, whose foul-up this whole mess was, but he had fled in the cover of the turmoil. Pyrrha thought that he should have been the one here apologizing, and not Azuhrius.

"I will work to ensure nothing like this occurs again," Azuhrius said. "I will let Nox have it, you can be sure of that. What he did was totally inappropriate. Once again, apologies." Azuhrius turned his head to Sangur. "You too. What do you say?"

Sangur watched away. "-rry" he huffed.

Azuhrius let out a sigh and looked back to Pyrrha. "If someone from my team bothers you again, just come straight to me."

They all started heading back for the dorms as the last orange tinted sunrays painted the sky. Pyrrha was supporting her team leader over her shoulder, and he looked like he could use a tranquil rest. One thing however was bothering Pyrrha, and it was when she had tried to use her Semblance to disarm Sangur.

"His weapon wasn't affected by my polarity," she said softly enough so that only those in her immediate vicinity caught it.

"What? Ruby asked from her right side.

"Sangur's weapon. I tried to use my Semblance to to take his axe from him, but nothing happened," Pyrrha said with a frown on her face. She had made her decision to use her Semblance without trying to conceal it when she had tried to disarm Sangur from afar. It had been more important that her friends would not get hurt than Sangur witnessing her Semblance.

Ruby shrugged her shoulders. "Maybe it has something to do with his weapon. Or maybe with his Semblance."

 _That would make sense._ "Hey Sangur," Pyrrha called out to the tall boy who was walking next to Azuhrius ahead of them.

"What?" Sangur asked while glancing over his shoulder.

"Your Semblance. I was wondering it you would not mind sharing what it is?"

Sangur opened his mouth without any hesitation. "Witch Eating," he grunted.

* * *

"Please don't do that again," Azuhrius said as he opened the door of their dorm room and saw the pale boy hanging from the ceiling. "That was really dangerous. What if Sangur had lost it and ripped someone to shreds?" It was lucky that Sangur had not gone completely berserk on them. Fortunately the accusing students had not been armed and he had not gotten too excited. But who knows what could have happened if Azuhrius would have not intervened. Jaune had lost a not-insignificant portion of his Aura. There could have been blood and skulls, and that would have been bad.

"You can't tell me what to do," Nox said while swinging slightly.

Azuhrius let out a sight and raised a hand holding pancakes wrapped in plastic. He had taken a chance and snatched it from the sack before returning it, as he was sure nobody would notice some were missing. Giving it to Nox would hopefully earn him some favor from his difficult teammate.

Nox was down from the ceiling in a time it took to blink and had his hungry eyes locked on the prize on Azuhrius' grasp. Azuhrius threw the pancakes to Nox who captured it with glee and retreated on to his bed. "I always had a good feeling about you," he said as he unwrapped the plastic to get to the treasure within. Sangur and Orchid were already eagerly up, awaiting distribution.

* * *

"Pancakes!" Nora screamed before shoveling in what should have been an humanly-impossible-sized chunk of them into the her internal void pit. Ren dutifully picked up the her empty plate, while simultaneously handing her a new one with a full load. He was really familiar with Nora's appetite, and knew full well that one plate rarely was enough.

"It sure would have sucked if we didn't manage to get them back after all that," Jaune said from his bed where he laid collapsed, holding a forkful of pancake over his mouth."

"You don't say," Yang said as she ate her own treat. For some reason, she was using a spoon to eat it. Ren was pretty sure he had seen the same utensil on her during the Grand Pancake Heist, as it had been recently named "These are delicious. Ren, if you ever make too much again, don't hesitate for a moment to call Team RWBY to the rescue."

"Yeah, we will always be ready when you need us," Ruby said like the proud leader she was.

"We sure will!" Nora said. "Without you guys we would not have achieved victory!"

"Victory? Victory you say," Ren said with a serious tone, drawing everybody's eyes on him. Did they seriously think this was the end of it? That nothing like this would ever happen again? "That was no victory. The shroud of darkness has only just fallen." Everybody stared at him, but none spoke a word. "Started the Pancake War has…"

* * *

 **Well I hope you enjoyed that. And let me just say, this is not the last time you will be hearing about pancakes.**

 **Please leave a review, if you feel it in your heart, and have a nice day.**


	13. Chapter 13

**I am not sure which one is funnier, the previous chapter or this one.**

* * *

 **Chaos is the Price chapter 13**

"Hmm," Azuhrius said as he examined his scroll. There was a tone in that _Hmm_ that Orchid's sensitive ears picked up as something more than ordinary _Hmm._ It was a ' _I am forming a plan in my mind'-_ kind of _Hmm._

Orchid turned his focus to his team leader from his sword that he been oiling it with a liquid that's composition would have freaked out most people. His beautiful sword's white tinted blade felt like it reveled in the oily coat, and it almost felt like it was drinking it. "What's on your mind?" Orchid inquired.

Azuhrius rubbed his chin. "Have you noticed the amount of local Dust related robberies skyrocketing recently?" he asked with his green eyes still aimed at the screen of his device.

"No, I can't say I have," Orchid said. What did he care about any illegal activities in the Kingdom of Vale, it was not his job to keep track of such things.

"It's _them_ ," Azuhrius said with confidence.

Orchid raised an eyebrow. _They_ were behind the dust robberies? "Why are they doing something like that?"

"That information is not yet in my possession," Azuhrius said with neutral voice.

 _So you don't know. Must be hard for you to say it._ "Does this matter?" Orchid said while he returned to maintaining his sword.

"Everything matters," Azuhrius said. "Until I deem that it matters no longer. But what is an immediate matter of interest is that there is a large Schnee Company Dust shipment arriving next Monday."

"So? What about it?" Orchid asked, not sure where Azuhrius was going with this.

"So, the ones behind the Dust robberies will be there to steal the shipment," Azuhrius explained.

Orchid looked at his marvelous own reflection from the blade, before glancing at Azuhrius with his vibrant pink eyes. "How can you be so sure they will be there?"

Azuhrius lowered his scroll. "They most definitely will not miss such an inviting target. It does not take a genius to guess this will be their next gig. Even a monkey could predict that."

"I still don't see how any of this is our concern," Orchid said.

"What I am saying, is that there is some major Dust jack pot about to be stolen, and I believe we could use some of that Dust."

Orchid widened his eyes a bit as he started to understand what Azuhrius was after. "You are saying we should go there and steal that Dust?" he asked, a little surprised that Azuhrius would suggest such a move after all his talk about laying low and being discreet.

"Yes," Azuhrius nodded. "Just a part of all that Dust. The officials will think it was those responsible for all the other robberies. Nobody will notice if we take out a slice of the prize."

"What would we do with all that Dust?" Orchid inquired. "We have enough to get by here, why do we need more?"

"We never have enough Dust back at Terra, so we will send some back home. Spares us some raiding from Vacuo. But more importantly, do you understand how valuable the energy propellant has become because of all these robberies? The prices are through the roof. We can make some very, very good money of by selling it during all this shortage. And money buys a great many things," Azuhrius said with a smirk on his face, probably envisioning all of the things he could do with such money.

"Like drugs!" Orchid suddenly realized how totally awesome this plan was, and they should totally do it.

"Yes, but also other things." Azuhrius said. "I will talk with Nox and Sangur and try to acquire their assistance with this."

Orchid grunted. "So wait, even with the four of us, we are talking about stealing a lot of dust, right? Do we really have the manpower to do that? I am not dragging Dust containers around the city."

Azuhrius looked at him, and Orchid could see that his team leader was a just bit surprised by such an insight from him. Orchid though Azuhrius did not give give him enough credit.

"That is why we are going to get some additional help from an outside source", Azuhrius informed while raising his scroll again.

 _Outside help?_ "Who? Are we going to ask someone from Terra? They are not going to come to help us out, you know."

"Yeah, definitely not enough of them would come, even if they had time to travel at such short notice. But no, I was not talking about them."

Orchid frowned. "Who then?"

"Just some helpful locals." Was all that Azuhrius told him.

* * *

Sangur was standing by the door of the dining hall, watching the gathered students as he waited for Nox. The gaze of his deep blood red eyes halted by the blond leader of the Team JNPR, who was eating with his male teammate and the two boys from Team TACO. His lips parted as he let out an inaudible groan. The boy was even greater whimp then the Slaaneshi whelp. Sangur could not see what the blond was doing in this place that was suppose to train warriors. He let out yet another silent groan as he squeezed the tray containing the food of warriors in his hand.

"What's wrong?" said a familiar calm voice next to Sangur, and he turned his head to look at Azuhrius who had just arrived. The green eyes were spectating him with the hidden cunning look that Sangur did not like, for it made him think the progeny of the XXth could read him effortlessly.

"Nothing," Sangur grunted.

"You were looking at Arc," Azuhrius stated while giving the blond boy a glance.

"He is a weak coward that makes me want to rip his non-existent spine out, for the skull at it's end is a weak addition to the ever growing Throne."

"You can't do that, I hope you realize it."

Sangur's mouth twisted into a furious scowl. "Yeah, I know. And it infuriates me. I can't understand why the Battle Maiden tolerates him."

Azuhrius turned with a look that made Sangur assume he was going to say something stupid. "You really can't let those kind of feelings go on. How about you go talk with Jaune and just have a conversation with him. I am sure it would be good for both of you."

 _Yep, plenty stupid._ "I don't wanna," Sangur said with a sneer.

"Just do it. Go and have nice little talk. I will see if I can get you some blood to spill in the future. No one from here of course."

Sangur's expression swirled while he performed whatever equivalent he had for contemplating thought process. Finally he let out a rough huff. "How do you have a nice talk with someone", he asked.

Azuhrius smiled. "You talk about just some light-minded things. Ask about how he is doing. Inquire about family, home or about life just in general. Health is also a good topic. Just don't mention anything about fighting, blood, or claiming skulls."

Sangur grimaced but took a step forward. "There better be some good blood in the future," he growled as he made his way towards the four boys sitting and eating together.

Just as Oliver from Team TACO rose from his seat and headed probably to get more food or something, Sangur placed his tray on the table next to Jaune as sad down. He turned to look at the blond, who almost jumped when he saw who had sat right next to him. "You like your life?" Sangur asked with a grunt.

Ren and Aureolin shared a look on the other side of the table, while Jaune looked up to the Sangur with eyes wide and kinda scared look on his face. "Ho- How S- So?" he managed to whimper while he moved a just a bit further away along the bench.

"What if you get sick?" Sangur said with his eyes steadily on the blond.

"I- I have been just fine, thanks for asking," Jaune said and now there was a hint of confusion on his voice.

"How about your home. Do you have… Do you have a good security system in place?"

"What makes you say that?" Jaune inquired with a worried look.

"Well, there are so much happening now days. Burglaries and dangerous people on the loose, searching for a good target to go for a killing spree."

"Ar- Are you threatening me?" Jaune asked with a pale face.

 _What? No! "_ No, of course not," Sangur retorted. He did not understand Jaune's reaction. "And how is your family? I hope they don't move outside after it gets dark. The streets just are not so face place after the dark, you know. Anything could happen."

"Sangur, I think you should leave Jaune alone," Ren said with rather serious tone.

"Yeah, back off," Aureolin said with a unfriendly expression.

Sagur looked at them, frown of confusion on his face. "I am just having a nice conversation…"

It was at that moment that Nox arrived and sat down on the Sangur's other side.

"I think we should be on our way. Pyrrha and Nora are waiting." Jaune said hastily and rose up, followed in suit by Ren.

Sangur saw Nox and Ren exchange glances, the face of the pink eyed boy looking like he was watching and opponent of a war being fought. He probably was still thinking about pancakes. "War is hell…" he softly retorted before turning and following his team leader.

Aureolin looked after the two boys before turning to Nox. "I heard you guys had a bit of a squabble with JNPR and RWBY. Something about pancakes."

"Yep, that is a thing that happened," Nox said while he impaled some bacon with his fork.

"I also heard that they are still little a bit salty with you Nox, and some of them said they will let you have it when they get their hands on you." Aureolin spared a glance around. "If Nora or Yang shows up here, I would not want to be you," he said to Nox.

"If they show up here, my plan is simple. I will run, they will hunt me in vain. They are never not going to catch me."

"I would not be so sure. Those girls can get really, really fired up. Especially Yang. I would recommend you don't mess with them," Aureolin admonished.

Nox let out a distasteful groan. "Females… they get in the way with everything. All the females should be removed from Remnant." Nox smirked. "It would be just the male population." His face took on a thoughtful expression. "Or just the Vacuo and Terra, no need for the others. Actually, screw Vacuo, no need for that place. And definitely screw most of the guys at Terra, only very selected group of people would be enough. Or maybe just one would be enough… Me, just Nox." Nox was smiling and looking upwards as in deep thoughts.

"Nox," Sangur grunted as he poked his teammates shoulder. "You are thinking out loud again."

As Nox snapped out of his daydream, Sangur glanced at Aureolin. The boy did not seem to have been left hanging on to Nox mentioning Terra, which was good. It was good Azuhrius was not around, for he would not have taken kindly such a slip.

"So… you don't like girls?" Aureolin asked Nox.

The pale boy next to Sangur turned his obsidian eyes to the straw blonde haired boy across the table. "I hate them," he sneered.

Aureolin nodded. "Oh, so you swing that way?" he asked.

Both Sangur and Nox looked at Aurolin. "Swing what way what?" Nox asked with a puzzled look.

Aureolin looked a bit uneasy, like he was not sure how or not did not want to explain. "You know, do you swing for the same team? You just said that you don't girls so I just assumed. Sorry if I was too nosy or blunt."

Nox narrowed his eyes. "Again, what the hell do mean with swinging and all that?", he asked with a irritated look.

"I mean…" he seemed to Sangur suddenly slightly embarrassed, like he had difficulties to say what he was going to say to Nox who waited with malevolent eyes. "After what you said, I was just asking if you are homosexual..."

There was a long silence as both Nox and Sangur just stared at him, letting a silence fall between the three of them. Aureolin looked increasingly uncomfortable. Then finally Nox spoke. "What is a homosexual?" he asked, voicing what both he and Sangur were thinking.

With a mouth open, Aureolin looked back at them like he had totally not expected such a question. He sifted gazes with both of them. "You… don't know?" he asked with disbelief in his voice.

"No," Nox said while turning his head to Sangur. "Do you know?"

Sangur shook his head and they both looked back at Aureolin. He had no idea what the blond boy was talking about, but for some reason he felt instinctive anger at the back of his head, like his subconsciousness was telling him to stay away from such things and stick to the path of blood spilling.

"No, we don't know, that is why I asked," Nox retorted.

Aurolin looked really unsure how to continue with the conversation. "Hasn't anybody ever talked to you about things like these? Like your parents or someone."

Nox shook his head. "They haven't really been around," he grunted.

"So…" Aureolin started. "Has anybody ever talked to you about... you know, bees and flowers, stuff like that?" He seemed like he was about to collapse by the pressure his words were giving him for some reason.

"Bees and flowers?! what do they have to do with anything?" Nox asked in bewilderment.

Aureolin let out a heavy sigh and leaned his forehead to his palm. "Are you saying that you guys don't know how reproduction happens?"

Nox frowned. "Yes we do. By mixing of genetic material."

Aureolin looked at Nox with hint of suspicion. "But do you know how exactly the whole procedure goes?"

Nox flailed his hand dismissively. "I am not an Apothecary, I don't have a need for such knowledge."

"I think that is pretty vital information for anyone and everyone."

"Okay then," Nox leaned against the table. "Please, enlighten us about the matter then. If it is so important."

Aureolin looked like he wanted to crawl away. "I… I really don't think I am the best person to explains these thing…"

"Oh, for fuck sake!" Nox said as he rose up from his seat in frustration. "Forget it. I am going to consult an expert."

Sangur looked after his partner in puzzlement. _Expert?_

* * *

Nox opened the door of their dorm room relentlessly and pushed in. He saw the person he was looking for laying on the bed, reading a strange looking magazine. "Orchid," he said. "How does human reproduction work, in detail?"

Orchid looked at Nox with wide, gleaming eyes, like he had waited his whole life for someone to ask him that question. He jumped up in excitement, sending his magazine scattering into a corner of the room, and motioned Nox to take a seat on the bed opposite of him. "I think you need to sit down," he said with glee in his voice.

Nox sat on the Sangur's bed and gave Orchid his attention.

"Now then," the white haired and pink eyes boy said. "Lets us start. When a male and a female…"

* * *

Azuhrius had serious trouble finding Nox. He knew where Sangur was, but there was little to no benefit in consulting him about future plans without Nox present. It was the black eyed boy's decision that would dictate their course of action. Azuhrius was rather sure that he could coax Nox into the Dust stealing plan. The boy sure was greedy enough to be persuaded by the promise of good looting, and since the plan did not involve planned fighting, Nox was practically in the bag already. He had been chained down by the this school environment, where many things are not welcomed, so he would probably revel in the chance of breaking out of the restraining confines for a while.

 _But where is he?_

Azuhrius had been going around the school for a quite a while, but there had been no signs of Legionnaire of the 8th. He was running out of time, since when the weekend would arrive, Nox would crawl into hibernation to somewhere secluded and Azuhrius would not see him until the day of the planned gig.

As he walked around the corner, he saw Team TACO walking towards the dorms. He would take any chance for leads he could so he pulled next to them. "Hey," he greeted and the two boys and girls of the team turned to look at him. "Do you happen to know where Nox is? I kinda need to talk to him."

Teale shook her head. "No, I can't say I have seen him today. How about you guys?" she asked from her teammates.

Kiara also shook her black haired head, but Aureolin and Oliver opened their mouths. "We have," Oliver said.

"Yeah, couple of hours after eating. He was leaving the dorms in quite the hurry. He said he was pulling into exile in some self made bunker or something."

"What?!" Azuhrius asked and thought he must have misheard Aureolin.

"He was kinda in a hurry, and we did not exactly get the whole picture." Aureolin retorted.

"He did mention something about how Orchid had told informed him about babies or something," Oliver said, causing Aurolin to look away with slightly red face for some reason. "That of course does not explain anything," he finished with a shrug.

"But in this particular instance it in fact explains everything", Azuhrius exclaimed as he rushed towards his dorm room, leaving a rather confused Team TACO with a short hand wave as a goodbye. He reached the door of Team ASON, and marched right in. "Orchid!"

"What?" the boy said from the floor where he was leaning against his bed, cutting his perfect flesh with small jagged knife. The wound dripped rich vivid blood that flowed against the pristine flesh, remaining after Orchid allowed his Aura to close the wound, so that he could slash it open again.

"What did you tell to Nox?" Azuhrius asked from the door.

Orchid smiled "I told him about the wonders of reproduction and the excess most exquisite..."

Azuhrius slammed his hand against his temple. "Of course you did..." He raised his gaze. "Do you know where he went?"

Orchid just shrugged and moved his knife once again against his wrist.

Azuhrius turned on his heels and headed out to continue his search. But before that, he would visit library.

* * *

It was already pretty dark outside as Ozpin walked along the corridor with a mug of his almost final coffee of the day in his hand. It was about time for him to get some final snacks before retiring for the evening. He was surprised when he saw young mister Lernaean turn from the intertwining corridor, gazing around as if searching something.

"Hello, Azuhrius," Ozpin let out a greeting as the blue haired boy got closer. "Have you lost something or do you have another reason for scouring the corridors at this hour."

The boy stopped in front of the headmaster. "Yes, I have in fact lost one of my teammates. Nox has apparently gone into hiding somewhere and I can't find him."

"Now why would he do something like that?" Ozpin inquired. He wondered if it was something he should look into. Nox needed some watching after from time to time, so that he would remember to behave.

"I am not fully sure either," Azuhrius said, though Ozpin got the impression the he knew quite well but just did not wish to share it. And then Ozpin got the feeling that Azuhrius knew the headmaster guessed that everything was not being revealed. He looked into those green eyes, and saw that the eyes knew how to act under scrutiny, remaining calm because they knew nothing important could be read from them. "I think he was spooked somewhat roughly and is holed up because of that," Azuhrius finalized.

Ozpin looked away and pulled out his scroll. He manipulated it with his fingers and was silent for a moment as he scanned his smart device. Then he lowered it and looked at Azuhrius again. "I think you should try your luck in the attic of your dorm building," he said with a subtle smile and moved along.

* * *

Azuhrius stepped into small room at the end of the attic, scanning the gloom with his eyes. There were many boxes stacked against the walls, with objects of various kind scattered over them. His eyes stopped over one corner of the room, where a rather expertly built cushion fortress was located. The light dust coat of the floor was scraped to drift in the air as he made his way towards it.

"Nox?" he called out with a calm voice.

There was a crack that came to be between two pillows in the side of the fort, and Azuhrius could just barely spot the weak gleam of a pair of eyes. "What are you doing here?" Azuhrius asked as he reached the fort.

"I never knew… I never knew the world was like this," came a thin voice. "They are monsters. The females, all of them. I am never leaving this place, I am safe as long as I stay within..."

"Did what Orchid told you cause you to take shelter here?" Azuhrius asked while he lowered himself to the level of the small hole in the almost impenetrable bulwark of Nox's bunker.

"Yes. I never knew… " Nox whined.

Azuhrius let out a patient sight. "I am super sure that whatever Orchid told you was really, really, REALLY dramatized and Slaaneshi influenced version of the reality."

The crack between the pillows got a bit wider, and now Azuhrius could see the black eyes had a suspicious glint in them.

"Here, I got you this from the library," Azuhrius said as he handed forth a biology book that he had retrieved from the section of the real books with actual pages. He did not want to give Nox anything that needed to be read through a scroll. "Read this, it is how things really are. Come back to the dorm room when you are done and feel safe to move in the outside world again. I have big plans that I need to discus with you."

Two metallic talon claws of Nox's weapon came forth from behind the pillows and snatched the book from Azuhrius' grasp. The crack in the fort disappeared as the security vulnerability was removed, and the fort became absolute again.

Azuhrius turned around and headed back towards the dorm room of his team, whose last member would hopefully soon return to them.

* * *

After the return of Nox, and the following "YOU SON OF BITCH!" he had to say to Orchid, Azuhrius had finally managed to get his team to sit down in a circle while he explained his plan to them. He showed them the map of Vale from his scroll and introduced them to the routes they would be using. He also told them about the additional manpower he was in the midst of negotiating with to assist them. All in all, every member of the team seemed to pretty enthusiastic about the plan, although one member in particular complained about the lack of blood spilling included. And with that, it was settled, and the people started to get ready for sleeping, and Nox especially was eager to enjoy his weekly dose of sleep.

"I will see you Monday," Nox mumbled with a tired voice as he emptied his pockets of unnecessary stuff before heading for the door, for the Progeny of the VIIIth Legion still did not trust enough to sleep his long coma in the dorm room.

Just before Nox grabbed the door handle, Azuhrius gaze landed on Nox's scroll on the table. His mind worked, and he opened his mouth to halt Nox, "Nox wait, where did you and Sangur get your scrolls?" Nox seemed to really hate the smart devices, and Sangur only used his during class when it was required to show Aura levels, so Azuhrius' suspicion was raised.

"Nox glanced over his shoulder with almost closed eyes, and let out a yawn. "Ozpin gave them to us when we enrolled because he said we would need them."

The warning bell in Azuhrius' head let out a ring. He reached his hand for Nox's scroll. "Mind if I borrow your scroll for a while?" he asked for permission.

Nox let out another, bigger yawn. "Do what you want," too tired or too uncaring about the device to be suspicious.

"Thanks, see you next Monday," Azuhrius bid to the fleeting back of the pale boy, as his hands curled around the small device, and then started to examine it. _It looks like I need to send an additional message._

* * *

 **As I said, I am not sure which of these recent chapters was funnier. Tell me your opinion.**

 **After this, we are heading back to canon events of the ending of the Volume 1. I hope you are exited to see how ASON is involved.**

 **Please leave a review, if you feel it in your heart, and have a nice day.**


	14. Chapter 14

**So it begins, the second greatest heist of this story so far.**

* * *

"So, when do we leave?" Orchid asked Azuhrius as they were packing their things for the coming "operation", like Azuhrius fancily liked call it. Orchid could do with only "theft".

"We will get moving when Nox arrives," Azuhrius told Orchid and Sangur. "I have reserved a bullhead transport for about an hour from now, so we can pretty much leave when he shows up."

Orchid sheathed his freshly oiled sword and looked at himself from a mirror on the wall. His pink eyes looked back at him, and he smiled. _Perfection._ "So tell me again why we are leaving this early," he said after turning around and nodding to the window that showed the dim dawn with but a few strands of light shining from the horizon.

"Because it is always good to reserve plenty of time for dealing with preparations," Azuhrius replied.

"It is good to move before the sun is high," Sangur said while fiddling with his chainaxes. "Nox might disintegrate due to exposure if we left when the sun was high"

As if on cue, there was a loud noise as Nox slammed the door of the room open and slumbered in.

"Ah, Nox, Just in time," Azuhrius called out with a smile.

Orchid never knew when Azuhrius was truly smiling and when he was faking it. He was exceptionally good at faking it. Orchid had known him for a long time, yet he still could not spot such things.

Nox glanced at Azuhrius with a grim look. "What day it is?" he asked.

Azuhrius frowned a little. "Monday," he informed his teammate.

"Oh fucking hell, the whole week is still ahead!" Nox cried out with a miserable voice as he proceeded to go retrieve his stuff for the gig. He also spotted the food that Azuhrius had acquired since they would miss the breakfast, and quickly devoured much of it. Then he pulled Dike Talon on his hands, flexing his now long sharp metallic claws. It formed a peculiar sight, now that all four of his limbs ended in talons.

"So, is everybody ready," Azuhirus asked after a while from the door where he was standing.

After some confirming nods, the four of them left their room and headed towards the landing site.

* * *

Kaltrina lowered the glass of soda she had been drinking purely for the sake of the fact that it would look strange if they sat on the terrace of the cafe without doing anything. She checked her scroll for time and to see if there had been any messages about a change of plans, like she had done every five minutes. There was nothing new and she folded the device away and took another sip of her very sparingly consumed drink.

Vi was sitting across from her, also taking a sip from her own drink in a mirror image of Kaltrina. Her face was as emotionless as ever, as she very rarely showed anything else than pure deadpanning. She had exactly same hairstyle as Kaltrina, with the difference that her straight neck length hair was violet in hue rather than blue like Kaltrina's. She was rather poor at faking emotions, she always had been, so she was generally kept away from tasks that required specific kinds of social interaction.

Kaltrina had been a bit surprised when when Azuhrius had informed her that he would be bringing another Hydra Network operative in for this mission. Originally he had deemed that Kaltrina would be enough to act as a delegate between him and the locally recruited assistance. She did not know what had made Azuhrius decide that further operatives were necessary, as he had not told her yet. She had, for just the tiniest of moments, entertained the awful thought that Azuhrius had deemed her unqualified, that she had somehow not fulfilled the expectations placed on her and therefor she required support from another operative. But she had quickly banished such thoughts from her head. She was the prime among the others of the Network, most trusted, most relied upon and the right hand of Azuhrius. There was no way that this was because of her.

After a couple of minutes, Vi suddenly emptied her glass completely and looked over Kaltrina's shoulder with a focus on her eyes. Kaltrina recognised the signal and gulped down her own beveridge. Vi had sighted Azuhrius and his team, and now it was time to move.

The two girls rose from their seat, picked up their stuff and proceeded to walk away from the terrace of the cafe. As soon as Kaltrina joined the sparse stream of people that drifted on the street, she spotted them walking some distance away.

Azuhrius was the leader of a group of four boys. Kaltrina thought it was good to see him again, allowing herself a quick smile. He had his normal combat attire of scavenged and customised Atlesian military uniform on him, and despite his green eyes staying steadily and deliberately directed ahead of him, she knew he had spotted her and Vi.

Kaltrina gave a nod to Vi, and the girls joined the people on the street, walking in the same direction as Azuhrius and his team. They kept their distance, not showing in any way they that they knew the group of boys walking a dozen meters ahead of them, simultaneously checking that no one was following them.

After a couple of blocks, the student team turned to a small side alley, leaving the larger street behind. As Kaltrina and Vi reached it, they also discreetly separated from the crowd and stepped after them. They walked forward, until they turned around the corner to an alley that had no line of sight to a larger street.

Azuhrius was standing there, arms folded behind him, waiting for them. Orchid was leaning against the wall on his left side, showing a rather creepy smile that Kaltrina often saw him using. She could see it in the pink eyes that he was not pleased to see her again, and frankly the alluded feeling was mutual.

And then there were the two new faces that Kaltrina was meeting for the first time. The pale one standing behind Azuhrius was without doubt Nox Deimos. There was just no mistaking him and the chrome raptor legs at the end of his feet. He was looking at Kaltrina and Vi with black eyes that expressed suspicion and distaste towards the two girls. Azuhrius had informed her that Nox was not the nicest person around, and as Kaltrina observed she could tell it.

Leaning against wall on the other side opposite to Orchid was the tallest and most muscular of the group, with an expression like he was only partially present, something Kaltrina normally associated with Orchid. This must have been Sangur Calvarie. Kaltrina could almost sense the brutality typical of the followers of the Bloody One radiate from him. He even had his God's mark on his red breastplate, and Kaltrina found such open display rather unwise in a public place, even if the people around did not know the meaning of the mark.

"Kaltrina, Vi," Azuhrius knowledge them with a nod, as well as introducing them to his teammates. "The members of Team ASON," he said while gesturing to the three boys behind him. He had obviously told his team about the two of them joining them for this mission. "You already know Orchid, but allow me to introduce to Nox-" he pointed at the pale boy. "And Sangur," he motioned at the other guy.

Kaltrina and Vi nodded respectfully to the other Legionnaires, but none of them returned the gestures, as Kaltrina had expected. To them, she and Vi were pretty much in the same category as cultists, and therefore there was no need for them to show even the barest hint of consideration.

"Why are you consorting with such wicked creatures," Nox sneered as his eyes moved between the girls. He did not seem to have much respect for girls, but not respecting others was rather common among Venatores.

Azuhrius did not acknowledge his teammates words and looked at Kaltrina. "I believe you have something for Nox," he said with a meaningful smirk.

Kaltrina nodded and stepped past Azuhrius towards Nox whose arms twitched towards his weapons. Kaltrina smiled, put her hand in the bag she was carrying over her shoulder and pulled a package of pancakes out. He offered them towards the Legionnaire of the VIIIth who quickly stanched them from her hands.

"You may stick around," he grunted before pulling aside to enjoy his newly acquired treat. Bribing always worked on that kind of a person.

"So, are we heading towards the docks then?" Orchid asked as he pushed himself from the wall.

"I do believe so," Azuhrius said while turning at Kaltrina. "How about our local associates?"

"They are waiting for me in the agreed meeting place by the docks," Kaltrina reported.

"Very well then. You go to them and we will meet you as planned later this evening," Azuhrius said as he turned. "We will rendezvous with you at the fixed hour. Let me know if anything happens. Me and my team are just going to wander around until it gets dark. You have your orders," he said dismissively and Kaltrina nodded to signify that she had understood.

Kaltrina turned on her heels, starting to walk away from Azuhrius' team and her fellow operative who had yet to be given a task. Just before disappeared around the corner, she saw Azuhrius hand Vi a vary small bag with some instructions that Kaltrina was too far away to hear. It bothered her a bit that Azuhrius had not shared what Vi was to do, but she told herself that if he did not wish to share it, she did not need to know.

* * *

They had slipped into the dock area without any problems. Which was a shame since Sangur would have loved to hit some guard with his axe. _Seriously, it would not be a bother at all. But Nooo… We have to be all fucking discreet and fucking subtle and fucking not killing anything that moves on sight and offering their skulls to the Skull Throne. Fuck!_

Azuhrius knew the layout of the place and guided them through the area that was filled with cargo containers and men finishing up off loading the Dust. They moved cautiously so that none of the remaining workers noticed them. They arrived in front of a small office building, one that was usually used for handling paper work and a resting place for the sailors, or that was at least what Azuhrius said. As they crowded around the door, Sangur noticed that the lock had been broken and the door was therefore open. Azuhrius grabbed the handle and pushed the door in without hesitation, and Sangur, Nox and Orchid followed. The door closed behind them, blocking off the orange tinted sunset that was coloring the sky.

As they entered the rather expansive but comfy sole room of the building, Sangur noticed there were almost two dozen people waiting for them. He also noticed most of them were visibly armed with red swords or axes, and he reached for his Skalathrax, but Azuhrius blocked it with his stretched hand.

The blue haired female that they had met previously that day stepped forward among the man wearing black suits and red sunglasses who were standing around and sitting on the few couchess in the center of the room. Azuhrius leaned in and his little female underling whispered something into his ear while motioning at one of the men in black.

Azuhrius nodded and glanced back at his team. "Just wait here. Don't do anything stupid, these are out additional manpower." He stepped to meet a man who did not look any different from all the goons hanging around them. "You must be Tony?" Azuhrius said with a friendly tone.

Azuhrius and the man he addressed stopped from arms length from one another. "Yes, I am Tony. I am in charge on behalf of Junior here." He looked at the blue haired Legionnaire over his crimson sunglasses.

Sangur thought that the glasses looked kinda nice. Maybe he should get ones like that too. _The world must look nice and red from behind them._

"I assume you are the one who sent the girl and came up with this plan?" he inquired.

"Yes, that would be me," Azuhrius replied. "You may call me Alpharius."

Azuhrius and the man in charge of the thugs talked for a while, before Azuhrius returned to his teammates.

Sangur was still eyeing the red glassed thugs but turned his attention to his leader.

"Okay, now we just wait," Azuhrius said with a pellucid voice. "These guys have trucks waiting outside the dock area, who will rush in when we give a signal. When the guys behind these robberies arrive, the vehicles come in and we load couple of containers worth of Dust into them. Or rather these gentlemen will. We are here just in case, to keep the other thieves at bay if they notice us."

He checked his scroll and then turned to Nox. "Nox, I need you to get outside and work as a look-out."

Sangur could see Nox frown and sensed that he was not pleased for being ordered around. "Why me?" the pale boy asked.

"Because you are best suited for the job. Or who do you think should be sent out there?"

"Well for example…" Nox looked first at Sangur, Orchid after that, and then fell silent as he realized the alternatives.

"You can get back here fastest if something comes up and we have to scram." Azuhrius continued. "Get to some high ground and just keep an eye out for anything. Inform me when the robbers arrive. These two-" Azurius motioned with his hand for two of the black suited men to come closer. "And she-" Azuhrius nodded at the blue haired girl. "Will accompany you and help you keep contact."

"What if I don't wanna? Why should I go there while you remain here doing some random acts of mindlessness?" Nox retorted with a challenging tone.

Azuhrius glanced at the female. "Don't you have something for Nox?"

The girl pushed her hand into her bag and pulled out some valuable pancakes who were gone from her hands before she could even face Nox.

"On it," Nox said as he headed for the door, the two goons following him. Azuhrius opened his scroll and formed a message line with the female, before she too rushed after Nox.

"Now you two can just take it easy," Azuhrius said while turning to face Sangur and Orchid. "Try not to do anything to our kind helpers, we need them. Absolutely no fighting or arguing of any kind. You cannot kill any of them," Azuhrius hushed with a harsh tone, really driving his point home.

"What, we can't even kill one or two of them?" Sangur asked. "I thought that kind of thing was okay now that we are not on the Academy grounds and under Canemaster's nose."

"No, absolutely not. You don't kill your allies," Azuhirus said.

"What kind of rule is that?" Sangur sneered with a pout.

"The most basic rule of cooperation."

"And nobody ever told me that," Sangur growled. "Bloody hell."

"Don't fret," Orchid uttered. "I was also told just recently."

Sangur glanced around. "So now we are supposed just sit and wait?" he grunted.

"Yeah," Azuhrius answered with a nod. "Just stay put until I say otherwise. And remember-."

"" _No Killing anyone,""_ Sangur and Orchid growled in sync. The two of them dispersed, Orchid striding around the room and Sangur leaning against the wall by the door.

* * *

Azuhrius checked the status report sent by Vi, his green eyes quickly but steadily scanned over the few lines. Her mission was so incredibly simple that there was not really any need for her to check in, as there was practically nothing that could go wrong, but reporting things was never a bad thing. He folded his scroll away and glanced around.

Nothing had really happened in the past hour, and the black wearing helpers were just hanging around the large room. Some of them were laying lazily on the couches in the center of the room, some leaning against the walls, others fiddling with their weapons in boredom.

Sangur was still leaning against the wall by the door, hands crossed over his breastplate, eyes closed and his facial muscles twitching from time to time.

Orchid was crouched by a large illuminated decoration aquarium that was next to a couple of office desks in the corner of the room. Azuhrius frowned, wondering what Orchid was doing, and started to stride towards his teammate across the room.

Orchid's face was almost pressed against the glass that separated him from the multitude of colorful fish swimming in the clear water. His hand was poised above the the transparent glass box, making shaking moves in short intervals.

Azuhrius stopped behind the white haired Legionnaire, leaning a bit so he could see what was going on better. "What are you doing," he inquired.

Orchid glanced at him momentarily before directing his pink eyes at the animals in the water. "What kind of fish are these?" he asked with a slightly baffled tone. He shook his hand over the aquarion again and some vivid colored pills fell out of a round container he was holding. The pills hit the water and started sinking, soon disappearing as the fish swam in and ate them before they hit the bottom. "They are just taking my drugs like they were nothing," Orchid murmured, emptying the container and discarding it next to him before pulling out a fresh one.

Azuhrius noticed there were several already emptied containers by Orchid's feet, implying he had been feeding the fish his mystery stuff for a while now. "Maybe they just don't have the same effect on fish like they have on humans," Azuhrius said, though his gaze drifted to a dozen or so fish floating upside down motionless by the surface. "They also cannot limit their eating. They are going to keep consuming anything edible they get, so they will eat themselves to death if you keep giving them your stuff."

There was almost an inaudible splash as the last pill from the container Orchid was currently holding impacted the surface of the water in a small circular wave. Orchid reached for another container, but his hand came back empty. He just stared as the small pallet of his substance fell and was gulped down by the few remaining fish, as most of them were now floating lifelessly around. There was a moment of silence as Orchid registered what had just happened. Then he opened his mouth in a small shriek. "They took all of my drugs!" he exclaimed in horror as he realized he was out.

Azuhrius was pretty sure Orchid still had plenty of combat stims stored, so he must have been talking about some other type of drugs, probably ones reserved for enjoyment use. He smirked as Orchid pressed his hands against the glass box. Being without drugs even for a while would only be good for him. He turned around as headed away while Orchid kept mumbling to himself.

"All of it, they took all of it," the progeny of the IIIrd Legion deplored. "All of it went down their mouths. All gone. They left me with nothing... Solution: eat the fish!"

There were splashing noises but Azuhrius did not turn to watch. It was at that moment that his Scroll let out a notification beep.

* * *

Kaltrina was standing on top of a metal balcony of a heavy lifting crane, looking out into the dock area darkened by the night. The weather was rather misty, a thin veil drifting from the sea to envelope the coastline of Vale. She was leaning against a rail with one hand, the other hand firmly clasping her scroll that was in readiness to contact Azuhrius. A couple of meters to her left was Nox, who was sitting in a crouch behind the rail, scanning their surroundings in boredom. The two henchmen Azuhrius had assigned with them were leaning against the crane little further back, one gazing out while the other was having a smoke he covered behind his hands, so that it's light could not give away their location.

Nothing remarkable had happened during their watch. The dock area had been clear of personnel for a good while now, the containers they were after were just sitting there unguarded.

Kaltrina found that strange. The Schnee Dust Company usually had rather extensive security arrangements for their products. She knew that they had quite an army of security drones at their disposal. Their train transportations were usually crawling with automated security robots. She knew, she had been involved in a train theft for their Dust, twice, after which they had left rather clear false evidence of White Fang involvement. So that is why all this Dust sitting unguarded made her feel uncomfortable. _Do they think that being inside a Kingdom border will be enough of a protection? Had the Kingdom of Vale refused to let the Schnee robotic army on their soil?_

As she was pondering this, she heard a huff from her left. She glanced at Nox who was scraping one of his weapon's claws against one of the bars of the safety rail. "Have you been to Terra recently?" he asked without looking at Kaltrina.

She was a bit surprised by Nox's sudden words after all the silence. "Not very recently, but fairly," she said without revealing anything too exact. Her hand holding the scroll moved out of Nox's line of site, and she started typing a message to Azuhrius without looking, using her practiced skill to remember the the locations of keys on the virtual screen. '- _Nox is asking about Terra,_ _what do I do_?' She had turned the sound and vibration of the smart device off, so she had to peek at the screen to see when the reply would come, and it arrived only couple of moments after her own message. '- _Tell him anything not involving the XXth. The more he asks the better.'_

She looked back at Nox, who was gazing at the night sky and the Luna that was almost full, only showing a bit of its fracturation. He looked like he was hesitating, like he was not sure he wanted to ask further questions.

"How are the things?" Nox finally asked.

Kaltrina considered her answer for a moment. Azuhrius had told her that Nox and Sangur had taken off during the turmoil of the last breach. "I would say not too different from how it was prior to the latest time the Grimm broke in." She answered. "With fewer Legionnaires, of course."

Nox let out a sound that could have been a snicker, but he sure was not smiling. "Yes, I have been wondering about that," he said his black eyes still focused on the Luna. "Tell me, what Legion is the largest currently." He huffed. "Or more like who are the furthest away from extinction."

Kaltrina thought for a moment. She remembered how the numbers had been when she had visited the last time, though the situation could have changed during the few months she had been away. It had been a tie back then, but Azuhrius had told her not to tell about the XXth. "I think that XVIIth might be the largest at the moment, at least to my knowledge."

Nox pondered her answer for a moment. "The zealots, huh?" he muttered. "These things sure change quickly."

Suddenly Nox perked up, scanning the cool night air with his black eyes. "You might want to notify Azuhrius," he grunted as he gazed upwards. "Our visitors are here."

* * *

 **Wouldn't it be a nasty move if I decided to kill everybody, even characters not yet introduced, off at the end of the first volume? It would surely be a dick move... Just keeping you on your toes. But the Gods need their sacrifices, you know.**

 **A new OC, even if she is quite minor one, introduced in this chapter. I have to update the list on my profile. There has been some time since I added in a new one.**

 **Please leave a review, if you feel in you heart, and have a nice day.**


	15. Chapter 15

**You guys excited to see how the dock heist ends?**

* * *

The Bullhead airship emerged from the foggy night, the sound of its thrusters suddenly filling the air with their sound as it transitioned into hover mode over the dock area. It soared over the containers of the Schnee Dust Company piled around the dock, before coming down to land between the aisle left by two massive stockpiles each containing a fortune's worth of the energy propellant.

Nox held up his right taloned hand over his eyes as the gush of wind caused by the airship washed over the high crane he was spectating the situation from. His eyes scanned the flying machine, scouting the surroundings for more aircraft, but currently there seemed to be only one. On his right, Kaltrina was holding on to the safety rail of the crane's platform, the wind tearing at her clothes. On his left, the two black suited henchmen assigned by Azuhrius were holding on to their hats, one of them failing as the strong wind took it from his head and sent it fluttering into the misty night.

"What is the situation?" Nox heard a familiar voice speak with an electric flavor to it. He turned his head, and saw that Kaltrina was holding her scroll open, and on the screen was a video call open displaying Azuhrius's face.

"The thieves are here," Nox informed as motioned out with his weapon covered hand. "That or somebody told the Dust Company one of their product containers has the wrong label and they have come to correct it in the cover of the night before anybody finds out."

"One sole Bullhead model aircraft, just about to land in the middle of the Dust containers," Kaltrina reported with a factual tone.

"Let me see," Azuhrius directed, and Kaltrina raised her scroll so that its camera was offered a clear line of sight. The misty night must not have allowed for perfect transmission quality, but Azuhrius seemed to glean what the situation was well enough. "Just one ship", he commented. "Probably a scout. They are not going to move much cargo with only that."

Nox saw the side hatches of the Bullhead open, and a ramp of extend to touch the ground.

"Wait and observe, notify me immediately if other ships emerge. I am giving the trucks the command to move in, and I don't want them to be spotted moving by airships," Azuhrius retorted and vanished from the scroll's display.

Nox extended his neck. "They're White Fang," he voiced his surprising observation.

"What?" Azuhrius' asked as his head bopped back in Kaltrina's scroll.

"The guys with the airship," Nox laid out. "They are clad in White Fang uniforms and symbols."

"Are you sure? Give me a look," Azuhrius requested and Kaltrina dutifully raised the smart device once again to give the leader of Team ASON a view.

"Unless the Scnhee lackeys have made drastic changes to their standard work clothes, I would say I'm pretty fucking sure they're those freaking animals. I've encountered them enough," Nox confirmed while flexing the claws of all his limbs.

Azuhrius was quiet for a moment before speaking again. "This changes nothing. We will proceed as planned. The trucks are moving in right now."

Nox turned his head and could see three large vehicles driving into the dock area, using the high piles of Dust freight as cover from the Faunus robbers. There were so many of the energy propellant containers massed in the area, that the trucks could pick a pile a plentiful distance away from the landed Bullhead to park and plunder. Six men in black suits exited the vehicles at a brisk pace, and Nox could see them moving in to work with the first container.

His attention was soon however stolen by the commotion happening by the airship.

"We are exiting the building and moving to help with loading the trucks. Is the way clear?" Azuhrius asked through the scroll.

"Wait, something's happening," Nox grunted as he squinted his eyes. "Somebody just rushed in and took the leader looking guy of the Faunus hostage, and has sword on his throat."

"What?" Azuhrius said. " _Hold up, nobody exit yet,"_ Nox heard him bark to somebody on the other end of the video call. "Somebody rushed in? What is going on out there?"

Nox felt his eyes widen in surprise as he focused and realized he recognized the female holding her weapon by the neck of the thief leader with a white coat and a bowler hat. It was that shady girl from Team RWBY.

"Hey Azuhrius," Nox began.

"Yes?"

"Do you remember that girl from Team RWBY? The one who dresses in black and gave the letter B to the name?"

"Blake Belladonna?" Azuhrius said immediately, like he had reviewed and studied the student roster many times over. Which he probably did, though. Most likely exactly 20 times.

"Yeah, her. She's the one down there."

"What?!"

Kaltrina raised her scroll again, sending Azuhrius some footage of the dock are, though Nox was confident the quality was not good enough for Azuhrius to confirm the identity of the girl himself.

"Now this unexpected," Azuhrius muttered, though he was clearly composing himself to adapt to the situation like a true XXth Legion warrior.

"Oh, and more party guests," Nox said as he gazed up to the sky once more, as the sound of thrusters invaded the air again.

More Bullhead airships emerged from the direction of the misty ocean, converting to hover over the already landed machine and the people crowding near it. Then there was a boom of and a flash of light as something exploded in the middle of the White Fang thugs.

"Things are heating up," Nox commented as a smoke cloud erupted into the sky. "I'm pretty sure somebody heard that."

More flashes of light started erupting on the dock as the extremists started to engage the huntress in training. The guy in charge had a weapon that fired big and bright Dust ammunition that exploded on contact. A new unfamiliar character emerged from somewhere and joined the fight, but at that point Nox turned away.

"This is getting a lot more loud and explody than I find comfortable being around," he said to the scroll Kaltrina was holding. "We were not suppose to cause a scene. The whole city is probably awake by now."

"Yes, this has indeed taken an unpleasant turn," Azuhrius replied.

"What do we do? I don't want to be here when the police or worse start showing up," Nox snarled. He was starting to get worried that what he was doing might reach Ozpin's ears, and he sure did not want to get caught from something like this.

"Stand by for a moment," Azuhrius uttered before closing the video call, causing Nox to growl in frustration from being hung up on.

* * *

"What is going on out there!?" Tony asked as Azuhrius rushed past him to the door.

"Some unexpected developments," Azuhrius snapped quickly as his hand grabbed the door handle. "Everybody, stay put, I am going to assess the situation!" he yelled before opening the door and stepping outside.

Just in time to see Bullhead airships starting a strafing run with their mounted machine guns. There were sounds of combat coming from some distance away, bangs of guns and clashes of blades echoing throughout the dock area. This was getting way more conspicuous than Azuhrius liked.

He started sprinting in search of a better vantage position so he could gauge the situation and see if the enterprise was at all salvageable, but before he had taken more than ten strides away from the building he had exited he pulled to a halt.

There was a loud reverberating boom and a giant shining beam of green energy lanced up into the sky, cutting two of the Bullheads apart. The bisected wreckages of the ruined flyers continued on their flight path and smashed into the surface of the ocean near the dock. Azuhrius' mouth actually opened a bit in surprise and awe after witnessing such a demonstration of firepower, but his attention was soon stolen by his scroll that was beeping and demanded his attention. He pulled the device to his ear as he turned on his heels.

"Wha-" came a short blurt of Katrina's voice, before another voice from the background drowned it.

" _HOLY FUCKING SHIT FUUUCK!"_ Azuhrius could hear Nox's frantic exclamation.

"- What are we going to-" Kaltrina managed to utter before there were some ruffling noises as her device was handled roughly.

" _Give me that"_ , came Nox's muffled voice before the line was cleared of disturbance. "DID YOU FUCKING SEE THAT!" Nox almost screamed into Azuhrius' ear. "LASER BEAMS! INSANITY IS ALL AROUND US!"

"Yeah, I saw it," Azuhrius said as he reached the door of the building he had vacated just a few seconds ago.

"DO WE BAIL?! I REALLY WANT TO BAIL! CAN WE BAIL?! I THINK WE SHOULD BAIL!" Nox' continued frantically.

Azuhrius only hesitated for a moment. "Yes, we are bailing."

"YES!" Nox exclaimed happily.

"Stay up there for a while, I am going to get Sangur and Orchid," Azuhrius said as he opened the door. "I will message you when to come down and meet us on the trucks. Inform me if anything more happens."

"FUCKING HURRY!"

Azuhrius closed his scroll and watched around the big room filled with the black suited henchmen. Sangur was still waiting by the door, and Orchid skittered across the room to his two teammates.

"What is going on?" Sangur grunted with ruffled voice, one of his hands holding his chainaxe.

"It sounds like there is quite the show going on there," Orchid quipped as he stopped next to Azuhrius. "So? What now? Do we go out and join it?" he asked hopefully.

"No we are bailing." Azuhrius said as he manipulated his scroll and sent a short message to Kaltrina: " _Esc B,"_ which meant starting executing the second escape plan. He tucked the scroll away into his pocket and turned around, grabbing the door handle once again. He looked over his shoulder at the petty criminals he had hired to assist them with this operation. It was unfortunate, since he could have had use for them in the future, but he could not risk someone getting caught and telling about his and his team's involvement in here.

He indicated towards them with a nod. "None of them leave alive. Come out when you are done," he said, pushed the door open, and stepped outside.

* * *

Sangur looked Azuhrius' back vanish as the door slammed shut. With a frown of disbelief on his face, he turned to look at Orchid who had a similar expression on his face. "Did he just..?" he asked for confirmation with a unsure tone.

Orchid's pink eyes gleamed, the shroud that normally clouded them completely gone. "I think he did," he answered.

Both of them turned to regard the thugs standing hesitantly inside the large room. A smile slowly creeped onto both of their faces. Orchid pulled out his sword in a slow and elegant motion, at the same time as Sangur pulled the other twin from his back.

He gunned the triggers, and the room was suddenly filled with roars of his chainaxes.

* * *

Nox was just about to say " _Fuck this shit_ " and flee the scene to save his hide. He could hear the sound of police sirens faintly echoing from the city. He did not like that at all.

At that moment the blue haired girl's infernal scroll let out a sound, and Nox and the two guys with red sunglasses gathered around her.

"What?" Nox demanded as Kaltrina read whatever message she had just received. Then she focused her eyes on him. "We are leaving. Azuhrius said to bring the corpses and meet him at the trucks," she said with a meaningful look.

Nox understood.

"What corpses?" one of the thugs asked puzzled, as Kaltrina turned around and started walking towards the ladder that would lead down from the crane they were on

"These corpses…" Nox whispered, before he ripped Dike Talon through the back and out of the chest of the black garbed grunts.

* * *

"What's going on?" one of the Junior's men asked next to the trucks without license plates he had arrived with.

Azuhrius answered by blowing the man's head apart with a silenced mass reactive shot from Stalker. Five more shots followed almost instantly, and the five other guys who had been working by the vehicles all fell to the ground, their skulls and their fragmented contents spread out around them.

Azuhrius walked to the back of the only vehicle that had been loaded with cargo from the opened Dust crate nearby. He peeked inside and saw the back of the vehicle was half filled with chests marked with the crest of the Schnee Dust Company. _This will be enough._

He went around and dragged the headless corpses to one of the other trucks and stowed the bodies on it. Then he planted big glimmering Dust crystals on to the sides of the two trucks that were empty of cargo.

He could hear steps coming towards him and spun around with his gun leveled, but lowered it quickly as he saw Kaltrina sprinting towards him, followed by Nox who was carrying two dark bodies over his shoulders.

Azuhrius nodded to Kaltrina as she reached him. "Go back to the building and retrieve Sangur and Orchid. Then burn it down," was all that he said to her as he threw her a pair of big red Dust crystals, and she quickly was on the move again.

Nox stopped next to him, and Azuhrius pointed at one of the other trucks. "Put them in with the rest," he instructed, and Nox proceeded to haul them in with the other corpses.

"This one is half full of Dust," Azuhrius informed while motioning to the truck he was standing alongside, after the pale boy slunk back to him. "It is nothing to scoff at, so I would say this went rather well."

"We have to get out of here first," Nox grunted while turning his head around. "Where are the others?"

Azuhrius opened the door of the truck and climbed in. "They are taking care of our other helping hands."

* * *

Skalathrax came down in a vicious diagonal strike, clashing against what pathetic Aura protection the petty criminal possessed. A chainaxe was very good weapon at stripping away Aura. The teeth met a fraction of resistance during the initial impact, but soon their hungry grinding ripped through the soul guard and into the flesh of the man's neck. Blood shot out of the grotesque and instantly fatal wound in a vivid and scattering spray, coating the axe and the floor around the body that hit the ground, smashed down by the strength behind the blow.

Sangur fixed his position, raising to stand in a straight posture above his last victim. There were no more of the suited thugs to kill, and the red veil that clouded his mind drifted away as the things to kill ran out. He raised one of his blood stained axes. Finally Blood. Finally the release of violence against real people, and not the soulless xenos with their filthy blood, that was not however, or course, unwelcome either. Finally some real, good, ever red blood. For the Blood God.

As the coppery stench of the blood on the ground filled his nostrils, he turned and scanned around the room filled with bodies. Some of them were botched, broken wrecks, showing the brutal signs of his axe work. Others were killed with incredibly precise and artfully lethal slashes, much less messy than his honest and glorious butchery.

Orchid was standing in a straight posture like a dancer who had finished dancing, red splashes spotting most clearly the white parts of his clothes. He was holding the blade of his weapon perfectly horizontally, and on top of the blade in perfect balance was a cleanly severed head, still retaining its hat and sunglasses. The streams of blood leaking from the decapitated body part flowed over the wide side of the white tinted metal, turning sickly purple just before they severed contact and were snatched by gravity.

The pink eyes turned to look at Sangur, ecstatic expression slowly vanishing from his face framed by his white hair. "That was…" he said with a voice that vibrated strangely. "Nice… It felt so good after such a long period of restraint."

Orchid tilted his sword, allowing the head to fall among the other corpses at his feet. He raised his sword over him and bend his neck, almost theatrically licking the thin lines of purplish ichor.

Sangur grunted in distaste at the sight of such behavior. The blood spilling was over, The War God had claimed his due.

Orchid wiped his lips clean with his tongue, before sheathing his sword and proceeding to saunter his way towards Sangur. His once again clouded gaze swept the mass produced weapons of the gangsters the two of them had just decimated. "Filthy casuals…" he spat arrogantly.

Sangur agreed, the thugs had went down pathetically easily, some even trying to escape rather than facing their opponents like a true warrior. "But it was still good," he snarled as he glanced around the room at the blood spattered walls, and the aquarium now containing crimson liquid. "All blood is welcome."

Their gazes met, his vibrant red eyes against Orchid's more vivid, lightish red, the most abhorrent of all colors. "This does not make us comrades…" Sangur grunted as he stored Skalathrax behind his back. "One day, I will kill you, and send your pathetic skull to the Skull Throne."

Orchid looked at him with a tilted head, a faint smile on his face. "No you won't…" he whispered confidently. He turned and started stalking away. "Because I will kill you first, brute."

Sangur could not help but to smile in a twisted way. He gazed down and saw one of the corpses facing at him. He crouched down next to it, removed the nice red glasses it was wearing and tucked the trophy to hang from his own shirt by the collar. _You are not going to need these._

Orchid started dragging and spinning the corpses, and Sangur was wondering what freaky Slaaneshi shit he was doing, but his attention was quickly taken as the door slammed open.

The blue haired female Azuhrius kept on his leash stepped in, gazing around the room. Her face quickly scanned and dismissed the massacre Sangur and Orchid had created, her dispassionate face showing no reaction to it. "We are leaving, come on," she said as she stepped in and placed a few large red Dust crystals around the room.

Sangur started treading towards the door, but he glanced over his shoulder as he heard the girl's voice again.

"Orchid, what are you doing?"

From the doorway, Sangur could see that Orchid was in the middle of arranging all the bodies laid out on the floor, all of them now pointing in the same direction.

"This is some advanced distraction," Orchid said with smugly as he pulled the last body on line with the others. "The officials will find these corpses facing east and they will suspect people from Mistral did this!"

Kaltrina was just staring at Orchid with her mouth slightly ajar. "That. Is the stupidest thing, ever. Of all time."

Orchid only shrugged and skipped across the floor to the door.

Sangur had just the time to see the girl pull out a pistol and shoot at the Dust crystals, which erupted in a blazing inferno. She ran to the door, closed the door behind them, and the three of them started running for the trucks.

* * *

Nox clambered into a small space behind the seats of truck, just as Azuhrius took the driver seat and started the engine of the large vehicle. It was rather cozy, he had to admit, just enough room to be comfortable but still tiny enough to allow him lean against the edges. The motor of the transport machine started purring, sending steady vibrations through the hull, and the sound was extremely welcome to Nox as he heard the sirens of the meddling law enforcement officials drawing near.

Azuhrius pressed on the gas, and the vehicle started slowly moving forward on the tarmac road of the dock loading area. He drove and made the vehicle perform a U-turn, directing them at the heading that would lead them out of the docks.

Nox saw through a windshield three shapes rushing around the corner of some cargo containers, sprinting towards the drifting truck that Azuhrius steered towards them. Nox leaned over a seat and opened the door on the side of the closing runners.

"Get in," Azuhrius snapped.

Sangur was the first to reach the vehicle and swiftly climbed aboard, stuffing his large form next to Nox behind the seats. Kaltrina took the middle seat of the the tucks cabin next to Azuhrius, and lastly Orchid jumped on the third seat, slamming the door shut behind him.

"GO!" Nox shrieked, as he could already see some red and blue lights reflecting from taller buildings of the area.

Azuhrius, pulled out Stalker, swiftly took aim from the open side window, and let a go two shot from his bulky gun. The shots impacted the two other trucks as they passed them, igniting the Dust crystals placed on their side and engulfing them in suddenly expanding balls of flame. Nox could also see over the containers that the building they had been camping in with the expendable gang members also in flames. These XXth Legion people really liked to cover their tracks.

Azuhrius punched it and the truck started to accelerate them the hell away from there. The vehicle moved out of the dock area, moving past the first residential buildings near the ocean. As they emerged from an alley connecting to the docks, a police car suddenly came from the road on their left. Azuhirus did not slow down, guiding the bigger vehicle ever forward, and the truck slammed the front part of the police car aside thanks to its greater mass.

Nox felt a rough nudge from the impact, but the truck barely slowed down and continued it's way deeper into the city, where Nox hoped none of the police would follow.

Unfortunately, such was not the case. Two cars with blinking blue and red lights and high pitched sirens turned from behind the one they had smashed aside, following the truck as it made it's escape.

"I think they want us to pull over," Orchid commented with small grin.

Even as Azuhrius turned them around a corner to a larger road, where there were other vehicles, the two law enforcement vehicles easily remained in tow.

Azuhrius started to gather some speed now that they were clear of the constricting buildings, zigzagging the truck through the civilian drivers. Nox was worried that the cars ahead would block their way if the vehicle stream got any thicker.

"The cars are slowing us down," Nox snarled from behind the seats.

"I am taking us towards a highway, there will be plenty of room in there," Azuhrius said with a composed voice as he guided the vehicle to drive up a rising juncture. They reached the wide highway that the junction connected to, and there truly was a lot more room for the large vehicle to push forward.

As he glanced a side mirror, Nox could see the police vehicles still in hot pursuit. "What are we going to do with those fuckers?" Nox said pointing at the reflection that flashed red and blue.

Azuhrius glanced the mirror too and curled his lips. "I will get rid of them as soon as a suitable setup presents itself."

"Suitable setup?" Nox asked with a frown.

"Yeah," Azuhrius said as he reached for Stalker. One police car pulled behind the other as they evaded other vehicles on the highway. "Like right there," he said as he leaned out of the side window, reached with his hand to place Stalker over his opposite shoulder. He did not hesitate for a moment before pulling the trigger, and a sharp but redirected metallic sound rang out as the suppressed weapon fired.

Nox saw through the mirror how the left tire of the closer cruiser exploded, hubcap and all, and rocketed upwards, just before crashing back down and hitting the fast moving road. Nox was not exactly sure how fast they were moving, but it was pretty damn fast. The corner of the police vehicle hit the ground, and with a loud crashing and screeching sound flipped over because of the velocity it was moving before the sudden impact. The car was in the air almost horizontally for a fraction of a moment, before the other police car crashed into it, sending them both crashing along the highway.

Nox saw the wrecks skidding to a halt, accompanied my terrible sound of tarmac against metal, that made Orchid chirp up happily on his seat. They were quickly left behind as the truck sped forwards.

With his black eyes still nailed to the side mirror, and his mouth slightly open, Nox proceeded to speak to Azuhrius. "Did you just shoot a wheel of a moving car over your shoulder aiming through a mirror from a moving car?"

"Yes, I just did," Azuhrius said as he gave Stalker for holding to Kaltrina who was smiling next to him.

"Ranged peasant," Sangur grunted next to Nox. "You should forsake your cowardly ways and join the glorious melee master race! You could have just pulled next to them so I could hit them with my axe."

"If I use a gun in a fight, more melee for you," Azuhrius remarked, .

"You have my permission to use guns," Sangur instantly said.

Nox watched the wrecked cars and the smoke rising from them vanish from his line of sight through the mirror. "You really are a good shot…" Nox said, trying not to make it sound too much like a compliment.

"He has to be," Orchid shared his thoughts from the other side of the truck's cabin. "He goes down the moment anybody reaches in melee with him."

"Too bad they never get there," Kaltrina commented cheerily.

* * *

Azuhrius soon took them away from the highway and into the more shady parts of Vale. Finally he drove them in front of a small building, that resembled what could be called a garage. As soon as they stopped in front of it, the big metallic door slid up and Azuhrius took the truck in, and the door closed behind them. They disembarked, and were greeted by the violet haired girl Nox remembered from earlier in the day.

"Unload the cargo and move it to the fixed storage location," Azuhrius instructed the two females. "Then get rid of the truck."

Both of them nodded, and Kaltrina immediately moved to the back of the vehicle to start working. The other girl however remained for a moment with Azuhrius, leaning in to say something to him so quietly Nox could not hear.

Azuhrius gave a nod. "Got it. Good job Vi."

The female then proceeded to help Kaltrina with the unloading, and Azuhrius walked to Nox, Sangur and Orchid who were awaiting him by the side door of the building.

"All in all, I would call this mission a success," Azuhrius commented with a content tone, suggesting that the gig had went swimmingly for _everybody_ involved. "Kaltrina and Vi are taking care of things from here, so we can head back and catch a ride to the Academy."

Nox looked at him with sharp eyes, and Azuhrius understood without any words needed. "Don't worry, you will get your share of the bounty. You would not be able to take any back to the academy anyway. They will sell some of it and you can do with your share of the money as you please, buy all the pancakes you want."

Nox nodded, satisfied, and the four of them started making their way towards the landing site for a Bullhead transportation. There was however one thing that bothered Nox.

"The other girl," he said to Azuhrius. "What did she do? What did she say to you just now?"

Azuhrius glanced at Nox calmly. "She told me the location where she hid your scroll so we can go pick it up."

* * *

 **So, I hope everybody enjoyed reading that. I very much liked writing it. I think it is some great review material, hinty hint hint.**

 **Next time it is the last chapter of Volume 1. I will put up a nice poll in my profile when that comes out. Everybody likes polls.**

 **Oh, and then I have that Omake.**

 **Leave a review, if you dare, and have a nice day.**


	16. Omake

**Guess what, I have an Omake for you guys.**

 **Do you guys remember from a while a ago when it was mentioned that Sangur and Orchid were hitting their heads against a wall? Ever wondered how it went? Well, it just so happens that DragonOfChaos97, may the True Gods Bless him, was curious enough to PM me about it, and gave me the idea to make this Omake so you guys can see what happened. He PM:ed for your, so be grateful.**

* * *

"Okay, let's do this," Sangur grunted with loosely contained excitement.

"You take that spot, I take this spot," Orchid declared with glee while gesturing at two parts of the wall about 5 meters apart.

"What are they doing?" Dove inquired from Russell as he walked across the yard to join the small group of students who were observing a ten meter distance from the two members of Team ASON.

Russell leaned towards his teammate, not wanting to remove his gaze from the two boys who took up their positions against the wall. "I heard something that included walls, head banging, and last man fucking standing," Russell filled Dove in.

"Oh," Dove said with great interest. "Ten Lien for Sangur."

"You got it."

Sangur and Orchid spread their hands and placed them against the wall, leaning in and touching them with their foreheads.

"Would it not just come to whose Aura runs out first?" Sky asked from Russell's other side.

Russell was also thinking about Aura. "Hey, you have activated your Aura, right?" he voiced out aloud.

Orchid let out a snicker.

"Only weak shits use Aura for something like this." Sangur grunted loudly.

The onlookers glanced at each other. *Nervous laughter*

"Okay, ready." Orchid exclaimed. "Aureolin, start the counter!"

The blond boy at the front of the crowd looked around like he was not sure if he should obey. "Are you guys really sure this is a good idea?" he asked hesitantly.

Sangur turned to look at him with a not so friendly look. "Do it, whimp."

Aureolin swallowed once and then walked between the two boys leaning against the wall. He leaned down, and touched Orchid's scroll laying on the ground. The scroll let out a low beep, and Aureolin quickly distanced himself.

"On the third," Orchid chirped.

There was a second beep after few seconds. Russell remembered that the two had squabbled a bit about how long of a break between the wall hits they would use. Orchid had demanded it should be six seconds, whereas Sangur had been adamant about eight seconds. Finally they had agreed upon seven, although they had really emphasized it was an unfortunate compromise, and there were no deeper meanings behind the choice. They had also stressed that seven was a truly disgusting number, though they did not seem to have directed it at each others or anybody of the observers.

A second beep sounded out, and the two braced themselves. The crowd held their breath and exchanged bets.

A time that felt much longer than seven seconds passed, and the air was totally clear of any sounds whatsoever. Even the wind calmed down, and the birds stopped singing, as if by guided by some strange power the world itself understood something great was about to happen in this epic challenge of two independent characters.

The third beep broke the silence, almost shattering the the thin veil of reality.

*Thud*

Another seven seconds passed in silence.

*Thud*

Another seven seconds.

*Thud*

And so on for the next hour. Russell was so glad he did not have any early classes today.

Russell lost count quite early on.

"Sorry I'm late. Where are we going?" Russell heard a voice. He glanced over his shoulder, and saw the pale, black eyed and disturbingly machine legged teammate of the two competitors.

"They have been doing for a over an hour now," Sky informed him.

Nox nodded and proceeded to plant a chair he had stolen from someone somewhere at the front row. _Smart bastard_. Russell's legs were starting to tire.

"Do they have any snacks around here?" Nox inquired.

"They are terribly overpriced," Dove grunted.

After about second hour or so, when some people had already left after designating trusted representatives to confirm the conclusion for their bets, Sangur opened his mouth to speak for the first time since the beginning of the manly trial. "You starting to get tired, whimp?!"

"In your dreams, brute!" Orchid replied with a really disturbingly gratified voice, his tongue licking his lips ecstatically. He looked like he was getting off from this weird shit, Russell perceived.

Azuhrius also arrived at some point without Russell noticing.

"You're not going to try to stop them?" Nox asked from his team leader. "The wall had this coming, you know."

"No, I am not stepping between those two at a time like this, I like my limbs as they are, thank you very much." Azuhrius said, as he produced a chair from seemingly nowhere using some sort of tactical genius. _Where did it come from?_

*Thud*

*Thud*

*Thud*

"Maybe you guys should let it go," someone voiced out.

* **Thud!***

Russel almost fall asleep in the calming sound of _Thuds._ They were the one constant, comforting and enduring thing in this ever changing world. When the familiar beep sounded, but was not followed by a synchronize sound of two heads hitting a stone wall, he quickly snapped upright from the ground where he was lying.

Sangur was laying unconscious on his back in front of the wall that had a worn gray spot eroded into it.

"In… Your… Face… Brute " Orchid wheezed with massive pants a couple of meters from Sangur, collapsed against the wall in a very strange looking bent over position. With a very freakish but content expression, he let out a whine as he flowed along the wall to the ground.

There were only a few people left to watch them, and the onlookers were slowly realizing what had happened. Then they erupted in cheers.

"Ladies and Gentlemen, we have the victor of the first annual Wall Games!" somebody declared loudly.

"Ten Lien!" Russell exclaimed, reaching with his open hand towards Dove.

* * *

Azuhrius stopped to stoop over Orchid who was laying on the ground exhausted. "So… Worth… it!"Orchid whined as Azuhrius crouched next to him. He reached out with his hand and pointed at something along the wall.

Azuhrius looked and saw a sport drink bottle accompanied by really fancy looking copper goblet.

"Victory Drink!" Orchid wheezed.

Azuhrius walked to them and picked them up from the ground. He returned to Orchid, pouring strange crimson liquid from the bottle into the goblet, making sure not to smell any of it. He offered the container down and Orchid's hand raised up to grab it. He turned over on the ground and held the cup over his head, pouring some red liquid into his mouth.

Azuhrius could perceive the drink's effect on his teammate, and Orchid was soon raising up from the ground. His forehead had a big red and worn looking area, but his after competition activated Aura had closed all the larger wounds if there had been any. He pulled a bandage from his pocket and placed it over his head, more likely as some sort of mark of victory than any actual need of it. Orchid glanced over at the still prone form of Sangur laying on the ground, who was being circled by Nox. "I will be in the Garden," Orchid said with a strangely hoarse but high pitched voice, before slowly slumbering from the scene.

 _I will have to talk to them about these kind of things._ Azuhrius turned and walked over to Sangur and Nox.

"You should not have gone against that ultra masochist freak in this kind of competition," Nox muttered to Sangur who had his eyes closed. "Come one, wake up. Hellooooo," he said while repeatedly slapping Sangur's face.

All the other spectators were now leaving the scene, dispersing to mind their own business.

The red eyes opened and stared up to Azuhrius and Nox with a slowly focusing gaze, his forehead just as red as Orchid's had been. Then he rose to sit up and looked around. "Whoah, that was an intriguing, good spirited and fair competition," he said cheerily. " I gave my all and it was tough, but the best man won. GG"

Azuhrius and Nox glanced at each other. "Are you alright?" Nox asked with worried tone.

"Yeah, I am great!" Sangur beamed. "I feel somehow smarter than before."

Nox's expression looked now really worried, almost frantic. "He broke…"

"So, how long was I out after that fine test of prowess between some good lads? Has anything important happened in the meantime?"

"Well…" Azuhrius began. "We decided that ASON will from now on stay away from all violence and become completely pacifist."

"Great!" Sangur said.

"And all sorts of axes have been banned and confiscated across Remnant, especially ones with chains, and they have all been melted down into _peace signs tokens_!" Nox tried desperately.

"Wonderful!" Sangur exclaimed happily. Nox looked like the rotation of the planet had stopped, granting the world eternal day.

"Oh, and Orchid was blessed after kicking your ass," Azuhrius added.

Sangur turned his head with a smile. "Well that is nice to hear. How well did the Dark Prince reward him?"

"No." Azuhrius shook his head. "The Blood God made Orchid his most revered champion and they toppled the Skull Throne together, and gifted all the blood from the Lake to hospitals."

Sangur's smile faltered, and he just stared with unfocused eyes forward for a moment. Then his face started twitching, and his eyes started to gleam. His hands spasmed violently, and an expression of deep, unrelenting, savage and furious anger spread to his face.

He jumped to his feet, punched a hole through the wall he had smashed his head against moments ago, and proceeded to break every detachable object in the near vicinity, starting with the chairs Azuhrius, Nox and some other onlookers had brought. All the time he growled like a wild beast, his anger making him spit out all kinds of inhuman sounds. He also attacked a nearby tree, trying so cut through it with only his teeth. He succeeded in 8 seconds.

While spitting wooden chips out of his mouth, he stomped his way to Nox. who cowered under the gaze of his red burning eyes. "Me. You. Forever Fall. Grimm. Blood. Now!" he barked.

"Wha-" was all Nox managed to utter, before Sangur scooped him up by one of his metallic legs without allowing him any chance to refuse. Sangur hurled Nox over his shoulder, and started storming away, probably to retrieve their weapons.

"Iaaaiaaaaaiiiiaaaaaaiaiaiaiaaaaaaaaaaaiaiaaaa!" Nox cried out as Sangur roughly dragged him away.

"Have fun!" Azuhrius yelled after them. "I will inform the teacher you guys might be late for class!" He turned on his heels and proceeded to walk away with his hands held casually behind his back.

* * *

 **I hope you enjoyed that. Making this was such a good idea. Thanks Dragon. If anyone else ever has suggestions like this, feel free to PM me.**

 **Now, the next chapter is ready, it just needs some small editing so it will be up in a couple of days.**

 **Leave a review, if you feel it in your heart, and have a nice day.**


	17. Chapter 16

**So, here we are, the final chapter of volume 1. I can't believe we are already here. I have to go back and read the first chapter of this story again for nostalgia points.**

* * *

 **Chaos is the Prize Chapter 16**

Ozpin, the headmaster, closed the video call, leaned back on his headmaster chair and folded his fingers together in a very headmaster-like manner. He let out a small sigh of relief, glad to be over with that particular conversation. The Schnee Dust Company Ordo Titulus Inquisitors were not pleasant people to deal with, and he was glad he could direct them to Vale dock officials regarding the shipment involved in the last night's robbery. The Inquisitors would now turn to harass some other poor soul in their attempt to discover the label error they suspected existed among all that Dust.

Ozpin checked the time. Ironwood's call would be coming any minute now. He took a moment to pour himself some coffee, the nectar of headmasters, and raised the steaming cup to his lips just as a holo screen popped up and a specially selected ring tone of the song ' _Headmaster from the North_ ' started playing.

"Ozpin," came a friendly exclamation still possessing a note of seriousness, as the screen displayed the commander of the largest military force on Remnant, Headmaster General James Ironwood.

"Hello James," Ozpin greeted in kind his fellow headmaster, taking a sip of his mug before resting it on the table so the two of them could talk business. "I hope I did not ruin your sleep with my last call."

"Not at all, worry not. I was just finishing up some paperwork." The general glanced at something off screen. "I talked with Schnee Dust Company representatives, as well as the local police force about it. I have their reports right here." He turned his gaze back to Ozpin. "I also heard that the situation was resolved thanks to some of your students who happened to be at the right place at the right time. "

The tone of the general held some commendation for Ozpin in regards to the actions of his students, but Ozpin could not take credit for the brave first years who had intervened with the robbery.

"I also heard that we have confirmation that the White Fang is in league with the enemy," the general continued.

Ozpin nodded. "The Queen has pawns," he quoted the message they had received just yesterday. "Based on the crime scene evidence, we are also still investigating how Mistral might be involved in this."

Ironwood nodded grimly. "How about those two who you have enrolled in your academy? Do they have anything to do with this?"

Ozpin had also thought about it, though he had never truly assumed young mister Deimos and Calvarie had anything to do with the White Fang. "I am sure they had nothing to do with last night's incident, I have confirmation of their actions all of yesterday." Sangur's scroll had remained as usual in their dorm room, but the tracking program Ozpin had planted in their scrolls had shown the movements of Nox for the whole day, and while he had been in Vale, the tracking showed he had never went even close to the docks.

Neither of them were clever enough to find out about Ozpin's method of tracking them, or think up a way to fool it. Ozpin had also confirmed from the leader of Team ASON that he had been with Nox and Sangur the whole day, so the two had a valid alibi.

"I see," The general retorted simply. "Well, I will try to look into the matter further when I arrive in Vale."

Ozpin raised an eyebrow. "You are planning on coming here?"

* * *

Weiss moved her white queen and proceeded to eat one Azuhrius' knights. She allowed herself a faint smug smile while she glanced up at the blue haired boy sitting across the table from her, but to her disappointment his face remained clear of any emotions, his calm poker face holding firmly.

Azuhrius thought for only a moment, before moving a pawn on the other side of the chessboard, the unexpected move totally surprising Weiss. Her queen was in a threatening position and Azuhrius chose to move a pawn that, at first glance, had no significant impact. Azuhrius changed his play style pretty much every time they played, and every time she had to adapt to his ever mutable tactics. She knew Azuhrius was really good at the game, he did not make unreasonable moves, so her eyes frantically moved across the board in search of the hidden purpose behind the pawn's new position.

"Did you guys hear about what happened yesterday?" Teale asked as she was leaning against the end of a table to spectate the game Weiss and Azuhrius were having.

"Yeah, some crazy shenanigans at the docks," Oliver quipped from a nearby library shelf he was going through.

"You were there, weren't you?" Aureolin said from his seat next to Azuhrius.

Weiss saw the blue haired boy turn his head and look at Aureolin sharply with his green eyes that had a sudden tension in them.

"I heard it from Yang." Aureolin continued while nodding at Weiss. "She said you guys helped out the with the bad guys or something."

Azuhrius turned his gaze from Aureolin and raised his eyebrow at Weiss. "Really? Do you guys know what happened?"

Weiss let out a faint huff. She was not going to mention Blake or the White Fang. "Yeah, but I only got there after things had cooled off, so I don't really know that much," she said while advancing with her right rook.

There was a low and strained squeal from the next table over, and Weiss glanced over Azuhrius' shoulder shortly to see Yang and Sangur, twisting their interlocked hands in an arm wrestling match. They had been in it for quite a while now without a victor emerging, so they were in a sweaty stalemate where nothing happened. Both had a quite brutally determinate look on their faces, and Yang looked really threatening with that spoon sticking out of her mouth. Sangur also seemed to have bought new red sunglasses, which were hanging from the collar of his shirt.

Nox was observing the contest high up, top of a library shelf, where he was safe from Yang or Nora's wrath. Weiss was pretty sure Nora was stalking somewhere between the shelves, waiting for Nox to let down his guard.

"I know what happened!" Sangur exclaimed suddenly.

""NO YOU DON'T!"" Azuhrius and Nox hissed with one voice.

"Oh? I guess I don't know then…"

"Do the officials have any lead on the people who did it?" Azuhrius asked almost hurriedly, while he moved his bishop way back, retreating the game piece away from danger back to his board edge.

"Not to my knowledge, but it's not like that information belongs to me." Weiss felt like she really had Azuhrius on the defensive, and she allowed herself a smile as she pushed forward with one of her white pawns. "Are you running away?" She asked from her opponent with a hint of smugness. "That is very Nox of you," she added snarkily.

"Oh, that's low!" Nox quipped from top of the library shelf while looking at Azuhrius mockingly as the blue haired boy made his next move.

It was at that moment that Nora jumped forward from her ambush with a high pitched warcry and tried to tackle Nox. Unfortunately for the ginger haired girl, Nox was faster and avoided her furious assault effortlessly by jumping across the room, over the tables and landing on top of another library shelf. He turned to around and cackled at Nora who was angrily twisting her face on the other side of the room, before she jumped down and disappeared among the shelves again.

"Check!" Weiss exclaimed, just before there was a very loud crack as the table Yang and Sangur had used as a platform for their arm wrestling split in two.

"Bah! Just when I was about to win!" Yang exclaimed with frustration as their competition ended without a victor.

"No..." Aureolin said from a safe distance, behind a chair that he had used to shield himself. "That was not arm wrestling, I have seen arm wrestling. There would not have any victors if you had followed through with whatever the hell you were doing."

"Oh come on, you're exaggerating," Yang said with a small laugh.

Aureolin looked around. "Then why are some of these splintered wood pieces on fire?"

"Oh, Dust! Put them out! Put them out!"

* * *

Sangur grabbed the handle of his team's dorm room door and pushed himself in. He made his way to his bed and sat down by it, pulling out Skalathrax to allow the red chainaxes to rest against the soft surface of the place where he slept, but still retaining a firm grip on them. He always felt better when holding his treasured weapons in his hands. Holding them did not have a calming effect to him, they just made him… feel better. He could not find any fancy words to describe it. It helped, just slightly, with the ever present pain in his head.

Orchid was sitting cross legged near the center of the room, across the window, holding his scroll in his hands and staring steadily at a holographic screen projected by some sort of device in front of the him. There were flashing lights and disturbing sounds coming from the speakers, and Sangur could see some images moving on the screen in a strange fashion. Orchid seemed to be playing some sort of a game.

"Where did you get that? Sangur grunted.

Orchid did not part his eyes from the game. "I borrowed the device from library, Yang showed me how to use it as a game console a while ago. However, I did have to get some good games from other sources, the default games easily available were really boring. Like seriously, who would want to play a game where nobody dies in horrendous ways?"

"What did you get?" Sangur asked and Orchid grabbed a thin data case next to him and tossed it to Sangur. There were some vibrant colors in the cover, most of it nice red, and Sangur turned it around to inspect the flavor text. The mark of highest age recommendation was very clearly displayed. "- _Homicidal teenage sloth ninja addicts,"_ Sangur read the title out loud from the back of the case. " _-Destroy everything and steal money to get access to harder drugs and more powerful weaponry"._

"Yeah! It's wonderful what kind of games they push out now days!" Orchid said happily. "Where are Azuhrius and Nox by the way?"

Sangur shrugged and just glanced around the room. His eyes stopped on Orchid's Malevolence that was on a soft cloth next to its freaky master, the white tinted blade of the sword reflecting the blinking lights coming from the holo screen. He probably could strike at Orchid before the whimp could reach for the weapon, but he would not. Only a coward would resort to something like that. "Don't know. Nox may have mentioned something about roof talk."

* * *

Nox opened the hatch and walked out onto the level rooftop, using his hand to shield his eyes from the infernal sun that tried to make life hard for him. It was not the roof of their dorm building, since its vulnerability to eavesdropping was well proven, and they certainly were things they did not want other people to know. This was the roof of one of the more remote storage and technical system buildings of the academy, and there was little worry that anybody could overhear anything that was said on top of it.

Azuhrius was standing there, waiting by the roof's edge, gazing out with his hands folded behind his back like the view was somehow interesting. Nox felt a small temptation to jump forward and push the blue haired boy over the ledge, but he decided against it. The fall was not enough to kill him.

Escorted by faint metallic clicks caused by his legs scraping against the hard roof top, Nox made his way to his team leader. "When do I get my share?" he greeted with his usual cheery and honest tone.

"Soon," Azuhrius replied with a composed tone. "We only acquired it all last night, it is going to take some time to sell it. There are also going be some tightening with security measures, so I have heard, so a certain caution must be practiced when dealing with the stolen Dust. Although considering the current shortage of the energy propellant, it should not be that difficult to find willing buyers who will remain silent. There might be some trouble with sending some of the haul back to Terra discreetly, I think that is going to take some time."

Nox grunted with uninterest. "I don't care about that, just get me my cut as soon a possible." He looked away, scanning the academy grounds that were visible from the rooftop. "My scroll…" he muttered.

Azuhrius glanced at him. "What about it?"

"Can't you disable the tracking? I don't like that Ozpin knows where I am," Nox uttered with discomfort. He felt that there were invisible chains attached to him, and the headmaster could at any moment start wrenching them.

Azuhius shook his head slightly. "I probably could, but it should remain as it is. Ozpin would know immediately if you disappeared from his radar and get suspicious. He might think you have something to hide and decide to use some more invasive method of observing you and Sangur, and we would not want that, now would we?.

Nox scratched with his claws, leaving some worn gouge marks in the roof top. He did not want to have Ozpin watching over his shoulder, but he sure did not want to find out what else the headmaster could come up with.

"Just keep using it like you have been until now. You can always just break it when going somewhere where having his eyes on you would be problematic," Azuhrius remarked. "Although only under severe circumstances, something akin to what we did last night. Remember to have a believable excuse for its condition afterwards"

Nox grinned slightly, imagining the moment when he would get to destroy the damned smart device. He looked forward to it.

The two of them stood there silent for a while. The wind was weak, only a faint breeze against Nox's unnaturally pale skin and dark hair. As he watched the school that trained these so called protectors of humanity, he realized how long it had been since he and Sangur first arrived here. It was not that long ago, but it felt so distant now. So much had happened that Nox would never have believed he would come across. Irritating things. Annoying things. insufferable things. Tasty things.

He was in a _team_ now, he thought as he watched his oh so clever leader. The thought made him huff faintly, almost making him laugh. _And what a team it is._

"So, can you finally tell me what you and Orchid are doing here?" Nox asked as he realized how the thought had bothered him lately, and last night had finally pushed him enough to approach the matter. "I am sure you can tell your trusted teammate," he snickered. He wondered if he should threaten to kill Azuhrius in his sleep to encourage him with revealing his plans.

The green eyes did not look at Nox, they just continued to gaze out from the roof top. Azuhrius looked like he was pondering Nox's question, genuinely seeming to consider opening his mouth and offering Nox some breadcrumbs of information. "Why do you ask?" He replied finally. "I was under the belief you did not want anything to do with my plans or Terra. Do you wish to get involved?"

Nox squinted his eyes menacingly. "I am already involved," he said noncommittally. He did not like Azuhrius or anyone else for that matter asking about his motives. Answering would, in a way, validate anything Nox would say, and he did not want that. "But Terra holds absolutely no kind of power over me. No man alive or dead commands me, and the Gods even less." Nox said that more for himself rather than as an answer to Azuhrius. "Now are you going to tell me or not?"

Azuhrius was silent again, but only for a brief moment. He seemed to have come to some kind of decision. "There are things going on. Meaningful things. There are people working in the shadows with grand plans that will have large consequences and affect all of Remnant."

Nox tiled his head. Now that he thought about it, he had gotten a feeling there was something going on the background of things. Those few hints he had picked up from Ozpin, the dust robberies that have been happening of late. Now that Azuhrius said something like that out loud, that premonition felt very convincing. "Things that have no connection with Terra or forces beyond the veil?" he asked. "Why does something like that interest you?"

Now Azuhrius looked at Nox. He had a calm expression, but there was a sharp tint in his green eyes. "Is it not obvious?," he said with a soft voice. " I already said it. There will be consequences. Events will transpire that will change the world of Remnant more than anything in the last decades."

Nox's had to admit his interest was piqued, although so was his sense of worry. "And how will all that concern you?"

Azuhrius had a hint of a smile on his face. Nox thought he was rather keen about this matter, on his dull XXth Legion standards. "A great upheaval is coming, and times of change are very valuable to those who know how to benefit from them. There are many opportunities coming in the future. Opportunities to achieve and acquire things that the Legions have craved for so long." Azuhrius turned his head to survey the academy, or more likely the city of Vale spreading out in the distance beyond the cliffs of Beacon. "And it is happening here, in this Kingdom. Vale will be the center of the beginning of these events, a stage on which great things will play out. I intend to be here when it all begins, and I will use it to the advantage of me, and Terra."

Nox was not sure what to think about what Azuhrius had said. It was unusual, and suspicious for the progeny of the XXth Legion to speak so openly. He had been rather vague though, so it was not like he had given away that much. And Nox knew better than to trust him to reveal all his intentions, or to trust him with anything in general. Azuhrius was a deceptive serpent, and Nox would have to be careful in the future if there were indeed grand events coming. The snake was right about upheaval bringing opportunities however, and Nox understood that well. He would certainly keep his eyes open for how he himself might benefit from anything that was coming.

"When is this happening?" Nox asked with an interested tone.

"Soon, soon." Azuhrius said vaguely. Nox got the impression, or rather guessed that Azuhrius did not know exactly when larger events would start to take place. Nox realized there were probably many things Azuhrius did not know about what was to come, and he certainly was not going to admit it. He had not mentioned who was behind it all, which was most likely one of the holes in his knowledge.

"How do you know all this?" Nox inquired, wanting to confirm the sources of such claims, although deep inside he felt them to be true. "Have your little spy puppets found it out for you?"

Azuhrius gazed slightly upwards into the sky. "No, nothing so reliable," he he said with a quiet voice. "This information is from a much more... divine source."

* * *

 **Aaand that's the end of the first volume of Chaos is the Prize. Just look how far it has come in all these months. And there are still so much to tell.**

 **I would like to ask what are the moments you remember most clearly, what moment was the funniest if you are able to answer that, and what do you think about Nox, Orchid, Azuhrius and Sangur based on all that has happened.**

 ** **This is a milestone, and a good opportunity for me to take a little bra** ke. I will be rather busy for a while, so the next volume will start when I have lass stuff in my hands. I think I deserve a small pause, I mean, have you seen my update speed?**

 **I don't normally talk about the RWBY show here, but since the volume 3 just ended and THAT FUCKING FINALE! I can't remain silent. It was MY job to add some darkness to RWBY, and now the show is doing pretty damn good job at it by itself. I saw that arm come off and I thought this is as far as it goes, but noooo, here comes Pyrrha jumping right in. I have to say however that I like how the show has evolved, that finale was very much to my liking.**

 **As you have noticed, Chaos is the Prize follows closely the canon events of the show. I purposely waited for the volume 3 to start so I could see where the show was heading. Now it seems that there is so much yet ahead for RWBY, so this puts me in a peculiar spot. I like running parallel with the show, but it was always my intention to mix it up as the story progressed. Now I have to wait for volume 4 to decide how I want my story to end if I want to include all the coming events into my story. I have nothing planned for after volume 3 (well, at least anothing solid), so I have to think hard about the future. I knew how I wanted my story to end even before I started writing the first chapter, but now I am faced with unknown from RWBY's direction. I have to say it is tempting to start planning some events that take the story past volume 3, even though I was prepared to end my story with V3. Fortunately I have two more volumes to work with, so volume 4 should come out nicely when I need it.**

 **RWBY show hiatus has begun, a moment of silence please...**

 **We must stay strong during the coming darkness.**

 **Now then, remember me mentioning something about a poll in the last chapter? That poll is now live on my profile. What is it about, you ask? I thought I would allow you, my dear readers to affect the story just a tiny bit. Remember that duel between Pyrrha and Mercury from episode 5 of volume 2? When this story gets there, I am having a member of Team ASON take on a canon character from Team RWBY or JNPR. With the exception of Pyrrha, she is not an option. And I am allowing you guys to vote what match you want to see. You have two votes, spend them however you will. (Though maybe avoid that one particular duel pair, it would be fast and boring. You can guess who I am talking about, use you heads. I am not talking about Jaune.) The poll will remain open until I say it is closed.**

 **Super big thanks to my Beta readers Enuncia and DragonTurtle3, who have been a tremendous help. This story would be such a wreak without their input. Thanks guys. It is not too late to check out Enuncia's story: Bunny and the Bully, even if only to get the references already present and coming to this story. You guys remember that spoon from the grand pancake heist?**

 **Also big thanks to Darkerpaths and SPARTAN-626, who have supplied my Ascension with regular reviews. You two will be rewarded for you loyalty, Darkerpath is getting little something in addition to that other little something he has already seen. SPARTAN's reward will be introduced in the next volume of this story and gets to be involved in a lot of interesting stuff.**

 **DragonOfChaos already got that Omake, and I already thanked him for it, but thanks for the reviews also.**

 **It would be nice to hear more from other readers as well in the future. Don't you guys think I have deserved at least something for getting trough the first volume?**

 **As always, please leave a review, have a nice day, and see you guys in the next volume of Chaos is the Prize.**


	18. Chapter 17

**Guess who is back!**

 **I hope you have looked forward to the second volume of Chaos is the Prize. Some quite interesting things on the way.**

 **Time to work on that Ascension.**

* * *

 **Chaos is the Prize Chapter 17**

Tukson was in the middle of organizing the storage of his bookstore, his hands full of heavy hardbacks that avoided crashing down only because of the firm grip of his experienced hands. There was a huge load of literary works to be arranged so that they could be easily located. Tukson himself of course would not have needed more orderly arrangement around his shop. He knew exactly where everything was and could have retrieved any book with his eyes closed. However, he was not going to be staying around here much longer, and the new owner of his business did not want to spend first few weeks just figuring out where the hell copies of Ninjas of Love were. Those were hidden pretty well.

His great task was however interrupted by a sound of clear metallic bell coming from the business side of his store.

"Be right there!", he called out immediately, and headed towards the double doors that would lead behind the counter, still carrying a pile of books in his hands. He opened the doors by pushing it with his back and proceed to turn so he could lay down the pile on the floor to wait. "Welcome to Tukson's Book Trade, home to every book under the sun." He turned again so that he could address his customer. "How may…" He paused briefly as his gaze washed over the person on the other side of the counter. "How may I help you?"

A white haired boy dressed in strident combination of white, purple and black observed Tukson for a moment with his clouded but vibrant pink eyes, making Tukson feel just a tad uncomfortable for some reason. Then his right hand produced an old fashioned envelope that had been opened and had a letter spouting from within. Tukson saw a glimpse of a scenery picture, and the words: " _Greetings from Vacuo"_ on the envelope. The boy turned his eyes and consulted the letter. "Okay, let's get this over with. Do you happen to have... " His eyes swept the paper. " _Lectitio Divinitatus_?"

Tukson was puzzled. He had not ever even heard of that named production, and he considered himself highly knowledgeable when it came to the world of literature. "I… I don't believe we have anything of that name…" he answered with a hesitant voice.

"Good." The boy simply said like he did not care that much. "Then do you have… _Codex Venatores_?"

Another name completely new to Tukson. He felt a bit embarrassed. "No, I am afraid we don't have that either."

"Even better," The boy said, this time with a small smirk. "It is a truly piece of shit work of fantasy."

Tukson did not have a chance to reply anything before the boy continued.

"Okay then. Do you have… _Book of Lorgar_?"

For a third time, Tukson had to answer no. This was really getting on his pride as a bookstore owner. He made a note to himself to investigate on all these works afterwards. "No, unfortunately."

"Well, now you have," the boy said and tossed a small package of wrapped paper to Tukson who catched it from the air with a surprised expression. He turned it in his hands and saw a small note attached to it. It had a tiny picture of something that looked like a demonic face engulfed in fire, and there were handwritten words under it. " _Spread the Word_ ," it read.

Tukson opened the package, and found a book inside. It was simple, almost handcrafted looking work with covers of plain leather. There were no words on any part of the cover, so out of curiosity he took a peek at the first page and the words inscribed into it with black ink. " _All I ever wanted was the truth. Remember those words as you read the ones that follow.-"_

"And now that those are out of the way I can just hit the road," the boy said while brushing his white hair with his hand. "Unless you have _My Phoenician Imago_ somewhere." He smirked as he crushed the letter into a ball in his fist.

That name finally clicked with Tukson. "Oh yes, we do have _My Phoenician Imago._ In the original language since there is no translated version to my knowledge, but we definitely have it.

The pink eyes of the boy stayed nailed into Tukson for a short while as he just stared. Then he pulled a big handful of Lien from his pocked and just slammed them into the counter. "Give it to me," he said with a suddenly sharp tone and with a glint in his eyes.

Tukson nodded slowly and then retreated into the storage space of the shop. He searched the location of the book from his mind, remembering way back when he had first got it and stored it away. It took him only couple of minutes to dust of some rarely touched containers and retrieve the copy his customer had requested.

He held up the book, inspecting its simple dark purple covers that had a golden wing emblem under its title. He opened the book and glanced at the pages filled with language he did not understand, some old dialect from the west or something. He closed the book and made his way back to behind the counter.

"Here you go," Tukson managed to say before the boy snatched the book from his hands with unnatural speed.

The pink eyes gleamed as the boy gently stroked the covers. "These mass produced copies… " he muttered with a hint of disapproval as he inspected the book, as if he was unsatisfied by its simple covers. He did have a genuine smile on his lips, however. He opened the book as he turned away, eyeing its first page with great interest.

"It came to me as I was thinking about those other books," Tukson said as he counted the pile of Lien on his counter that equaled way over the price of the book. "That _Book of Lorgar_ does not say anything to me, but I think we might have another book that shares some connection with it. Something called… _Book of Magnus?_ " Tukson remembered hazily that he had something named that in the deepest part of his storage.

"Fuck it, not on the list," the boy exclaimed as he folded the crushed letter into his pocket while he walked to the door.

"Hey!" Tukson called after him as the boy's hand grabbed the door handle. "Your change?" he reminded as he gestured to the pile of Lien on the counter.

"Keep it," the boy quipped with disinterest as he pushed the door open and exited the shop with his eyes tightly in the book he had just acquired.

Tukson looked at the Lien chips he had just received from a single book, and the shrugged as he happily took them.

* * *

"I don't know. Maybe Pride," Aureolin said to Oliver as Teale and Kiara sat down next to their teammates on one of the many tables of the dining hall. Teale lowered her tray on the table and turned to look at Oliver on her left just as the boy was about to respond to their blond teammate.

"I am not," Oliver said with a bit shocked tone.

"You totally are," Aureolin claimed sternly. "You are the the second most prideful person I know."

"Who is the number one?" Teale asked with interest.

"Weiss."

"Should have seen that coming."

"You should have." Oliver agreed. "So, nice to see you are back. How did the trip go?" He asked from the girls. Teale and Kiara had just returned from Vale where they had done some shopping and… well mostly shopping.

"Yeah, good to have you back, I feel a lot safer," Aureolin said while he glanced past Teale at the Team ASON that was sitting a bit further away from them. It almost seemed as if Sangur had sensed Aureolin's gaze because the tall boy paused eating his eighth bowl of cereal and looked back at the blond. Aureolin quickly turned away and found his fork suddenly very interesting. "So, how did it go?"

"Pretty good." Teale replied with a smile as she remembered back on the trip. "We saw the new Captain Atlas movie." Teale was a big fan of heroes on the silver screen. "The bad guys were especially entertaining. Hail Hydra and all that."

There was a loud and wet sound as Azuhrius almost choked on his drink on Teale's right. He hurriedly looked around him until his eyes stopped on Teale and her team. "Krhm, oh Teale, you and Kiara are back," he said while wiping the table with a napkin.

"Yeah, good to be back," She replied with a wide smile.

Kiara looked at the boys from the other side of the table, opposite to Teale, while delicately eating her croissant. "What were you just talking about? Before me and Teale arrived. Oliver and pride or something."

"Oh, we were just thinking about deadly sins and wondering what we were," Aureolin started to explain. "Oliver says I am sloth and I say he is pride."

"You totally are, and I totally am not," Oliver claimed relentlessly.

"Sure." Aureolin said. "What about you guys?" Oliver asked.

"I am totally also sloth," Teale replied. "There are just some days that I don't feel like doing anything at all."

"I know the feeling," Kiara muttered. "I would also say I am sloth too."

"No, you are gluttony," Aureolin voiced his opinion while Oliver nodded in agreement.

Teale saw Kiara drop her fifth croissant to grab a spoon with her other hand and Aureolin's collar with the other, all in blink of an eye. She held the spoon over Aureolin's face in a backhand grip, barely a hair's breadth away. "I don't think I heard you," she whispered with a rarely seen threatening smile.

"Yep sloth totally sloth that's what I meant we are on the same page here," Aureolin uttered as a quick litany.

"That's better," Kiara chirped but did not let go. "Would you also say I am pretty and a total blast to hang out with?"

"Absolutely no doubt about it never have I seen a girl with more charm than you like a morning star you are please don't stab me in the face with a spoon Oliver dust damn you help me!"

"And you would like nothing more than taking me to the upcoming dance, right?" Kiara cooed.

A faint smile spread to Teales face. Kiara sure knew how to be direct. She had picked out a really nice dress during their trip and now she was securing another vital part for the occasion.

"Yes yes whatever you say nothing would please my soul more than that wait what?"

Kiara let go of Aureolin and the spoon, slowly and definitely allowing the utensil to slip her fingers and impale the table as it fell. "That is nice to hear," she smiled and returned to her croissant.

"Smooth as fuck," Oliver commented while sipping his glass while Aureolin gasped for air. "Pyrrha could take a page out of your book. You could lend her the spoon."

"So how about your team?" Teale asked after turning to face Azuhrius. "That deadly sins does your team represent?"

Azuhrius barely glanced around before almost immediately replying. "Wrath and lust at least."

"Who is the lust?" Aureolin asked since the other did not need any clarification.

"Orchid."

"That's me," The white haired boy exclaimed from the other side of Azuhrius.

"Really? I would not have believed," Aureolin wondered.

"You. Have. No. Idea," Azuhrius simply said.

"What about Nox?" Teale asked.

Now Azuhrius actually had to consider for a moment. He glanced at his machine legged teammate much further away from Team TACO, as if to make sure Nox was not listening. "I would say envy, but I am also leaning on gluttony in the light of some recent events."

"And what about you?" Teale inquired with a smile and a genuine interest in her voice.

"I don't think that anyone is qualified to talk for themselves with this," Azuhius said with a shrug.

Teale nodded and looked over to the blue haired boy's teammate. "Hey Orchid, what deadly sin is Azuhrius in you opinion?"

"I don't know." Orchid rubbed his chin. "Maybe greeeeed."

There was suddenly ruckus coming from a nearby table, and It was at that moment that food started flying.

* * *

"What is with this place and battles involving food?" Azuhrius muttered on Sangur's right, where he was taking cover behind the table near the wall.

Sangur gulped down last few drops of milk from his sacred cereal bowl and put it aside. He turned his head and observed the scene while most students quickly evacuated the dining hall. He saw Team RWBY and Team JNPR trading blows in a vicious fray, using the contents of today's dinner as weapons. Fried chicken, bread, swordfish (what a nicely named animal) and everything that could be weaponized were employed by the two battling teams with all their skill and might. It brought a faint smile to Sangur's rough face. It was not glorious, honest, blood spraying combat, but it must on some level please the Blood God, he was sure of it. _Why was this not done regularly from the day one?!_

For a moment Sangur entertained the thought of presenting an idea to the Canemaster to make this a mandatory daily thing, where the weakest students would go without food. Or were culled bloodily by the rest of the student body. That would strengthen spirit and character. Was this not supposed to be school to train warriors?

"The fuckers could not have waited to do that till I was done eating," Nox mumbled but did not seem angry. He was hoarding food from still intact tables into a massive loot sack he had produced from somewhere. They were not allowed to squirrel away food from dinner times, and so Nox was using this incident as a distraction to liberate a big haul of food. Nox hurled the bag over his shoulder and looked at Sangur. "Okay, time to go."

"Don't you want to join in?" Orchid asked while idly fingering a long and dangerous looking bread in his hands.

Sangur saw Nox spare a glance at the food fight, where Nora was practically soloing Team RWBY. "Yeeaah… No," Nox replied. Then he glanced at Sangur. "You coming?"

Sangur rose to his feet and folded his hands over his chest as he watched the fight to rage on. "No, I willl stay. I will not take part in this bloodless trifle," he grunted. "I will, however, watch how it plays out."

"Suit yourself," Nox shot over his shoulder and jumped through a window behind them in a shower of glittering glass.

"This place gets more crazy everyday," Azuhrius mumbled as he climbed after Nox.

Sangur watched them leave and then turned his head to the last of his teammates. "What about you, whimp?" he asked.

"Oh, I will see how this plays out," Orchid answered with a smile on his weakling face. "And then I am taking on whoever is the last one standing," he said while taking a couple of test swings with his bread.

At that moment a barrage of hundreds of soda cans filled the air as they flew towards the end of the dining hall and Team RWBY like a torrent of missiles. They moved in the air on their own, propelled by some despicable Semblance sorcery that made Sangur's lips curl with distaste.

Then the storm of cans suddenly stopped and instantly changed course in the opposite direction, following a vacuum caused by a larger red rose petal missile that flew past them and pulled them with it.

The small but powerful red murder storm of death and carnage shot past Sangur and Orchid with the cans in tow, picked along with it much food that was lying scattered around the hall. Sangur felt the wind pressure tearing at his clothes, but he remained steadily standing because of his Semblance shielding him from the effect of the Semblance caused vacuum.

Orchid did not have such protection.

Where Sangur did not move an inch, Orchid was sntached away and sent flying with the storm of cans. The flailing white haired queer tumbled across the air, finally stopping as he smashed against the wall at the end of the hall with Team JNPR. It was the most hilarious scene Sangur had seen in a long while. The Red Reaper was awesome.

The soda cans and a dining hall's worth of food in varyingly edible shape splashed against the back wall after the five students, covering them all in chaotic rainbow colored mess. They were almost totally colored by vibrant splashed of gods know what, and slowly their filthy bodies started to slide along the wall down to the ground.

One of the figures popped his head up from the floor, and Sangur assumed it was Orchid, thought it was hard to tell from under all that mixed food.

"That was awesome!" Sangur heard Orchid exclaim with a thrilled voice. "Let's do it again!"

* * *

Nox pushed himself into their dorm room and hauled his mighty bag of epic loot on to his bed. He would have some much things for snacks for quite a while. There were a few things that were truly and utterly enjoyable. Snacking after bed time was not the best thing ever but it was definitely in the top three. Number one was definitely hunting terrified prey through the night, ending after a long chase with the prey's gruesome demise. Number two was scaring little kids for years worth of therapy.

As Nox grabbed a chicken leg from his haul, Azuhrius walked to his chest by the bed and started gathering school supplies that he would need that day. He glanced at Nox while the pale boy ate the chicken. "Can I have some, my dinner was kinda interrupted."

Nox glared daggers at the blue haired boy. _Your fault for not being smart and taking your share when you had the chance._ "I am your teammate, not someone who give a shit about you," Nox retorted while stuffing his mouth with more fried bird meat. "I am not saying I hate everything about you, but I would not mind if you starved to death."

As he ate, Nox's eyes were drawn to the bed he was eating on. "Do you think we could make these into bunk beds?" He asked. That would give him some very nice vertical distance and a certain kind of space of his own. High placed were nice. He missed them. "I heard that Team RWBY managed to do it."

Azuhrius shrugged. "Bunk beds are not as great as people say," he said nonchalantly. "I have bunk bed back at Terra and it is nothing special."

Nox raised an eyebrow. "Did you use the top or the bottom?"

"Bottom."

"Then you don't know what you are talking about," Nox declared the case closed. He reached out with his hand and picked up a paper bag that was laying on the edge of his bed. He pulled it under his nose and opened it with a sound of rustling paper.

"What's that?" Azuhrius asked with a hint of both curiosity and worry in his voice.

Nox glimpsed inside his bag, carefully making sure that Azuhrius did not get a look. Not because it was something that needed to stay secret, but because he knew it would bother Azuhrius. Nox took a look at the simple instrument in the bag that he had acquired just recently. It was a plastic prank mask, a simple one that one could buy from just about any bigger store around the city of Vale. Its visage was not anything special, more weird than anything else, but it did not matter. He would turn it to something more… intimidating with some modification.

"Nothing," Nox replied with a faint grin.

* * *

 **Okay, that is the opening chapter of the second volume, hope you liked it.**

 **That poll about who you want to see in a sparring match is still open in my profile in case you have not voted. It will not be open for much longer.**

 **I will probably not update as fast as with the first volume of this story, that was seriously incredible pace I managed to do back then. The updates will probably still be quite quick and regular, don't worry, just not as fast as before.**

 **So much stuff coming with this volume, hopefully a bit more action than in the last volume.** **There is a small teaser picture I just added to my DevianArt profile, you might want to check that out.**


	19. Chapter 18

**I am here to reluctantly confirm the rumors, that were willingly leaked by me, that Chaos is the Prize is indeed getting another chapter.**

 **Here you go, don't say I never gave you anything.**

* * *

 **Chaos is the Prize Chapter 18**

Headmaster General James Ironwood exited a shuttle on the main landing pad of the Beacon Academy and took in the sight with a deep breath. Everything was almost exactly as he remembered, except it seemed like there had been some minor renovation work done on the road leading from the landing pad. A brand new area was surrounded by only a barely visible ring of ashen color, as if something had exploded on the road and they had had to fill a crater.

Ironwood started walking towards the Academy buildings, enjoying the nostalgic feeling he got from seeing this place after such a long time. _It has been too long. Way too long._ Beacon had its own feeling, hanging calmly and weightlessly in the air, like all the Huntsman Academies did. It was unique, the place was so different from Atlas. It had much less feeling of order than Ironwood's own school, but there was a certain kind of charm in its less firm atmosphere. He himself liked when things were orderly and disciplined, but a certain liberty and light-mindedness were not bad once in awhile.

There were students walking around the yard, some looked like they were just hanging around, enjoying time away from studying, whereas others seemed like they were about to leave for the city of Vale or take part in some free time sparring. Seeing such promising future huntsmen and huntresses brought a faint smile on General's lips.

As he made his way forwards, he coincidentally spotted a figure sitting in a deep shadow in a corner of a building, sitting on a remote bench. His hands were in motion, in the middle of some task. Ironwood found that he knew the dark haired and pale boy. There was no mistaking him with those chrome machine legs of his.

Ironwood changed his course slightly, deciding to take a small detour. He headed for the figure on the bench who did not see him approaching, closing the distance with steady pace. Just before Ironwood reached the bench, the boy heard his steps and black haired head snapped up to gaze at him. Those eyes with larger than normal obsidian black irises stared at Ironwood like dark pits, slightly widening as the boy recognized the person nearing him.

The abnormally pale boy tucked away what he had been holding in his hand into a paper bag as fast as he could, but the General managed to catch a glimpse of something resembling a party mask.

"Hello mister Deimos," Ironwood greeted with a decently warm tone. "It has been some time since we talked, but I trust you remember me."

"Of course, General," Nox said with a hasty tone and got up from the bench to perform a salute. He did not exactly manage to do it with a proper posture or spirit but Ironwood appreciated the effort. "It is… good to see you again. Nice to meet you in person. What Brings you here to this Kingdom and Academy?"

The General could sense worry and a hint of fear emanating from the boy in front of him. Maybe he assumed Ironwood had come with business involving him, and was cautious because of that. "I have come for the Vytal Festival, and taking the chance to greet my old friend Ozpin. We have much catching up to do, him and I." Ironwood said, trying to put Nox even a bit at more ease.

Ironwood's gaze drifted for a moment to the pale boy's mechanical limbs starting from his knees. He had always felt some strange sympathy for Nox, most likely because the young boy's condition resembled his own. He also felt some pity for him, because his augmentation was way more visible and disturbing than Ironwood's. Nobody who gazed upon Ironwood could have guessed what was hidden beneath his clothes, but Nox could not exactly just pull some boots on. Ever since it had been pretty much confirmed Nox and his friend mister Calvarie had no connection to the White Fang or worse, Ironwood had entertained a thought of offering to arrange Nox some more proper and discreet prosthetics.

"How have you been, are you enjoying you time at Beacon?" Ironwood asked, trying to sound friendly. He found he actually was interested how Nox was doing.

The pale boy hesitated, as if he did not quite know what to say. "It has been nice. The food is great, and I have made lots of friends," he said with a somewhat eager boyish smile that seemed like he had difficulties producing.

That genuinely made Ironwood smile. He wondered if he was getting attached to Nox on some strange level. He had been pretty hard towards him when he and Ozpin had held and interrogated him, but after that his stance towards the boy had somewhat mellowed. "Well that is good to hear. I trust Sangur is also doing well?"

"Oh yes," Nox nodded furiously. "He is doing just awesomely. He really likes it here, as do I. Thank you so much for allowing us to be here,"

"It is Ozpin who you should thank, not me," Ironwood pushed it aside with a smile. "Speaking of him, he is waiting for me so I must get going."

"Of course, I would not want to keep you from you catching up with your old friend," Nox exclaimed with politeness that somehow did not reach his black eyes.

Ironwood nodded to the boy in good bye and turned on his heels to head for the clock tower. It was nice to see Nox was enjoying it here. He was now afterward quite glad they had made this arrangement for Nox. Ironwood kinda felt like he owed to the boy after all the he and Ozpin had done to him.

* * *

"They are in investigative containment, and they will stay that way. This could be our best lead yet, Ozpin. We can't just let them go!" Ironwood said from the other end of Ozpin's communication pad that was displaying the upper half of the Headmaster of Atlas academy. Ozpin made his way through the corridor with Glynda in tow. He really would have wanted right this moment to take a headmaster-dramatic-pause-sip-of-coffee, but unfortunately his hand was already holding the communication device, while the other was occupied by his headmaster cane.

"But we can't hold them forever, James" Ozpin replied calmly. "It is a surprise we managed to keep them locked up this long without raising any charges."

"They are under investigation, suspected of having connection to extremist factio-"

"We are not living in an authoritarian society, we can't keep them here without reason," Ozpin reminded his old friend." Unless you can get permission from the Kingdom council, which we both know you are not going to get, we have to charge them or let them go. And we can hardly charge them from possible connection with anyone or possible anything for that matter. At most we could try with property damage, but you know how those matters work with Aura users, especially young ones. The people would not be pleased, even less if there was a possibly the two of them were trying to stop the robbery, and when public does not like it, the council is not going to get themselves involved in such a small matter."

"The council does not understand the danger yet," Ironwood claimed. "You can't just let them go. This could be our best lead in a long while."

"You are even saying "could be" yourself," Ozpin noted. He did no longer suspected that the two boys had connections with White Fang or their patrons, but that did not mean they did not have connections at all.

"You can't let them go." Ironwood said almost with a hint of desperation in his voice. Ozpin could understand, the General wanted to see this as a step forward.

"But we can't keep them _here_ anymore," Ozpin said, emphasizing his words to convey his intention to the man on the different continent.

The General seemed to catch it as he raised an eyebrow. "You have some kind of arrangement in mind?"

Ozpin nodded, and found himself realizing this moment as well could really have used a coffee sip pause. _Damn, next time Glynda is the one carrying the communicator._

"Yes I do. A new semester at Beacon is not too far way."

* * *

Glynda remained behind and waited in the corridor as Ozpin entered the small room. Glynda had certain… hardness in her character and Ozpin decided that it would be better for her to keep her distance from this.

There was a single metallic table in the center of the stern gray room, and on its opposite sides were two chairs bolted to the floor as was the table. There was a boy sitting on one of the chairs, facing the door and Ozpin over the cold metallic surface of the table. He had the palest complexion Ozpin had ever seen, almost sickly looking pallor to his skin. His short hair was contrasting the skin tone with a color of blackest black, and his eyes were two gaping obsidian marbles with no visible line between iris and the center.

The boy glanced up slowly as Ozpin closed the door behind him and moved closer to the table with the communication device. He looked miserable, there was no other word for it. Ozpin knew how stressful confinement could be, especially to young people. The boy looked like someone who would shoot himself if he was offered a gun. It was not a nice sight, especially to someone who was leading a school to train people just like this boy.

After reaching the table, Ozpin placed the communication pad on the edge of the metal table in a way the Ironwood had a line of sight to them and they to him. Than he sat on the empty chair, placing his cane to lean against it. He did not need to be cautious of the pale boy sitting across from him. He was not cuffed, but his augmentic legs had been made inoperable, so he was as pretty much as good as cripple.

"Hello, Nox," Ozpin greeted with a calm voice as he rested crossed his fingers on the table.

"Let me out of here…" Was the only thing the boy muttered as answer to Ozpin while lowering his gaze again.

Ozpin did not say anything to that, and Ironwood took the chance. "Are you still maintaining you don't know anything? Has the time in here brought anything to your mind that you would like to share?"

The boy did not acknowledge the General's question, his head remaining lowered and his eyes out of sight. Ozpin was at this point convinced that if the boy knew anything about White Fang, he would have spilled it a long time ago. There was no need to inquire about anything like that anymore. He glanced at Ironwood's image on the pad, sending a wordless request to be allowed to do all the talking.

"Nox?" Ozpin asked.

"If that is why you are here, then you can just walk out the door. Just turn around now, 'cause you're not getting anything new out of me," Nox retorted.

"There has been some… concerning developments with your friend," Ozpin informed, bringing up the the other boy who had been detained with Nox and was also held in this same building.

The dark haired head did not rise, but the boy did give an answer. "Really? Don't keep me in suspense, do tell," he said with rather uncaring voice. "Maybe you should go talk with him instead of me. Of the two of us, he is the natural diplomat."

Ozpin adjusted his glasses. "He broke everything in his holding cell, every piece of furniture and even a couple of guard androids that were sent into calm him down."

A faint chuckle escaped the boy's pale lips. "Maybe the rats did it. Big ones… I have heard they can do nasty things to holding cells."

Ozpin ignored the boy's comment. "He has become very violent and and aggressive lately. Sometimes he spends hours just banging the door and the walls."

"You have been keeping him here for quite a while. Are you surprised if he gets agitated?" Nox remarked with a glance at the headmaster and the communication pad.

"What I am trying to say he does not feel completely healthy. Do you know if he has any medical conditions or mental problems we should know about? We have been unable to engage in a conversation with him as of late so we can't ask him." Ozpin inquired with a serious tone. He was kinda getting worried for the other other boy's health.

"No, he is just really fucking pissed," Nox simply chirped.

Ozpin nodded. He was not satisfied, but he decided to moved on to the actual topic he had arrived here today to discuss. "Well, on to another matter, he have actually come to you with a proposition. Something that I hope will help us move on."

Nox tilted his head just a bit, bringing to view his dark eyes that were gleaming with suspicion, but also interest. He did not say anything, waiting for Ozpin to continue.

"You see, we can't exactly let you go, but I believe we both understand that you and your friend staying here is little benefit to anyone." That was not exactly true. They could not keep the two of them here anymore, and would be forced to release them sooner than later. But Nox did not have to know that. Ozpin was unwilling to let them go, so he needed to find a arrangement so that he could keep his eyes on them. Nothing as firm and physical as a holding cell, but something that would make the two boys believe they could not leave and disappear.

Nox remained quiet but lifted his head just a bit more, obviously listening intently. He seemed, understandably, desperate for anything that would get him out of here.

"Did you know there is a new semester starting at Beacon Huntsman Academy, and I just so happen to be the headmaster of this particular institution?"

* * *

"What stops them from just hitting the road after we release them to the streets? Ironwood asked immediately after Ozpin closed the door behind him, locking Nox away from sight. "We can't force them to stay at your school, how are you going to keep them there?"

"I am keeping in my possession something from Nox to act as a guarantee," Ozpin informed the General. "Something so important to him that he can't even think about leaving it behind. I will tell him he will get it back once he graduates from the Academy. The time the two of them spend in my school will give us plenty of time to observe them."

"But what if they really are working with the enemy? You would be giving them an ideal position should the enemy try something."

"Better that we keep them where we can see them. I am taking some extra precautions to make sure I know where they are at all times," Ozpin said and started making his way down the corridor, followed by Glynda.

Ironwood remained quiet for a while, and Ozpin could see the thoughtful look in his eyes. Ironwood had know Ozpin for a long time and he had a good understanding of Ozpin's minds movements and inner workings."Why are you taking them into your school?" the General finally asked. "I thought you were of the mind that they had nothing to do with White Fang or those behind all of it?"

For the third time Ozpin regretted not having a coffee cup for him to sip. "Because it is good to keep cards of unknown nature in your hand where you are able to watch how they affect the game," he replied after a moment.

* * *

"Well, I think I am done playing actually," Blake said as she lowered her cards of unknown nature to the table. "I'll see you guys later."

Weiss watched her dark haired teammate walk away and vanish behind the bookshelves of the library.

"Women…" Nora quipped from the other table.

"Well, it looks like you have a vacant spot in your game," Azuhrius noted as he drifted next to the table and started inspecting the game board. He was manipulating his scroll with his right hand, but quickly slipped it away. "Mind if I pick up where Blake left?"

"Sure, go ahead. We need someone to lead the Kingdom of Vale," Ruby exclaimed as she motioned towards the now Blakeless seat.

"Thank you, I will sure to do my best," Azuhrius said as he took a seat and grabbed the playing cards belonging to the Vale player. Weiss saw his green eyes gleam for a moment as his took in the board and the Kingdom he was now the supreme ruler of. "Okay, My turn right?" He selected one of his cards and raised it. "I play Fractured Moonligh-"

"Trap Card!" Yang exclaimed.

"Trap Jammer," Azuhrius replied calmly as he turned around another one of his cards.

"Dammit!"

Weiss took a quick look around her and realized none of Azuhrius' teammates were in the library, or at least she could not see them anywhere. Not that Weiss would have wanted them hanging around. Azuhrius was okay, but the rest of his team… less so. "Where are the rest of your team?" Weiss inquired from Azuhrius as he proceeded to unload the hand of cards that Blake had passively gathered.

The blue haired boy shrugged. "Probably in our dorm room. They are not really fans of books or board games."

* * *

"Okay, question card," Nox exclaimed as he moved his black playing piece on the gaming board into a space marked with a stylized question mark. "Orchid! Stop reading and ask me a fucking question!"

Orchid lowered the purple covered book he had been reading intently and turned towards the boar dgame on the table between him, Nox and Sangur. He picked up a card from a massive deck of cards, that was truly a varying and mismatched stock. There were cards of all colors and sizes, some looking almost brand new and some that could have easily dated back decades.

"Okay, blue question," Orchid muttered as he looked at the card for the right colored question. "Here it comes: _Which breach resulted in the death of all the 9th Legion Legionnaires of that time?"_

Nox rubbed his chin. This question was actually kind a hard, the answer did not just instantly pop in his head. _Which breach? 9th Legion..._

"Didn't they fight themselves to death with the 16th rather than were wiped out by Grimm that had breached in?" Nox muttered as some hazy memories rolled in his mind.

Orchid smirked "Yes, but they did it during a Grimm breach."

"Oh, yeah," Nox nodded as it came to him. "But what breach was it… Third Great Breach?" He threw a guess.

"Nope, wrong answer." Orchid chirped with a smile.

"Fuck, I knew I should have guessed the 4th Red Breach," Nox snarled.

"That is not the correct answer either. The right one is 6th Massive Breach."

"What? And hell it is. Really? Wasn't that way before?"

"No, you are thinking about 6th Semi-Massive Breach.

"Well damn," Nox growled. "These things are so hard to remember."

"You don't say..." Sangur grunted.

At that moment the door to their dorm room opened, and Nox saw their glorious and honored team leader march in. "And where have you been?" Nox uttered a halfhearted question while he offered the dice to Sangur.

"Something actually useful while you have been playing that…" Azuhrius' gaze swept at the board game that they were playing. "Well, in itself pretty great game." Even Azuhrius could not deny the awesomeness of this greatest game since Griffball. He turned his green eyes to Nox. "Where in the warp did you get it?"

Nox nodded towards Orchid. "Orchid brought it with him from Terra when he arrived to the academy. One of the his undoubtedly best actions to date."

"It was a decent move from a Slaaneshi whimp," _even Sangur_ murmured.

"What expansion questions are you playing with?" Azuhrius asked while he looked at the huge deck of question cards.

"All the good ones."

"So all except Black Crusades?"

"Yep, and the Kaurava Campaign" Nox answered with a grin.

"Oh yes, thank dust," Azuhrius shuddered.

"We even have this newest Beacon Expansion," Orchid remarked and pointed at one of the cards that looked brand new. Nox recognized it, he had made it just recently for the expansion.

"You said you had been doing something useful. What useful were you doing?" Nox inquired from Azuhrius. He had a feeling that the snake was up to something again.

"Nothing really, just keeping watch on some school mates while someone slipped listening devices into their dorm rooms," Azuhrius told while turning his gaze to Orchid."You did manage to place them, right?"

"Yeah, yeah, they are in position. I was almost caught by the blakie girl from RWBY, but I managed to slip away at just the right moment," the white haired drug fiend replied without looking away from the book he was reading again.

"Listening devices? Is that were in those cases you got recently," Nox asked from Azuhrius, remembering how the boy had received a suspicious looking package from outside of Beacon.

"Yes, that's what was in those cases."

"Why do you want to listen on anyone in here?" Nox asked with wrinkled brows.

"It is good to know what they are up to," Azuhrius said simply. "I have a feeling someone from here might try something sooner or later, and I want to stay informed of everything."

"Is there a listening device in this room?" Nox asked.

"Of course not."

 _Hah, and fuck there isn't. I will have to find it during the night._

Everyone's eyes were suddenly drawn to the door as a knock echoed through the door. No one ever knocked on the door of Team ASON. Well, Dove had one time accidentally, that had been quite a hilarious case.

Azuhrius was the only one standing, so he made his way to the trough and opened it to reveal the most insufferable, infuriating, annoying and aggravating thing since the invention of flashlights: Ruby Rose.

"Heeyyy…" the dark red haired girl greeted with reserved expression and hands behind her back.

"Oh, hi Ruby. Is there something we can help you with?"Azuhrius greeted in kind with a smile that was so fake Nox almost felt nauseous. Ruby did not, of course, like a naive little brat, seem to find anything insincere in Azuhrius' expression

"Well… I was wondering if I could talk with Nox. There is something that is really been bothering me…"

Nox knew instantly what Ruby wanted to talk about. She wanted to know what was the deal with her and his shared dream every weekend. She had tried to get him to speak about it for a couple of times already, but Nox did not have then, or now, any interest in discussing the matter. It was not like he knew what the hell was going on.

 _That little shrimp… Where is that card that I wrote..._ Nox turned to the table and the board game on it and threw a dice, ignoring Ruby standing by the door. "Okay, question time. Orchid, take this and read the first question," Nox said as he handed his teammate one of the cards of the newest expansion, one that he had himself made and knew exactly what the question would be.

"Okay," Orchid grunted and took the card. " _Which highly skilled scythe wielder has also acted as the team leader of a similar named team during her time in Beacon Academy?"_

Ruby heard Orchid ask the question, and she perked up, wide grin on her proud face and hands on her hips.

Nox smiled his corpse smile. "Hmm, no one comes to mind right now..."

"And that is the exactly correct answer!" Orchid exclaimed as Ruby's smile turned upside down.

* * *

 **Okay, that was that. Somehow I feel really awkward about this chapter, but I hope it was okay. Next time is the trip to Vale and visiting some night clubs and White Fang gathering places.**

 **Leave a review, if you feel it in your heart, and have a nice day.**


	20. Chapter 19

**The team is heading for the city once again. Well, at least most of them.**

* * *

 **Chaos is the Prize Chapter 19**

"Huh, Team RWBY sure is up to something," Azuhrius muttered as he listened something from the headphones while sitting on a bad next to Orchid.

Orchid lifted his head with a hint of curiosity. If Azuhrius was interested, then it probably was something important, though things that Azuhrius found important were not always that meaningful to Orchid. "Really? What's up with them?"

Azuhrius lowered the headphones and looked at the ceiling thoughtfully. "They are planning on venturing to Vale and doing a little snooping around."

"So? Does it matter if they do?" Orchid asked without much interest now that he had heard what the girl team was planning. Did not sound like anything he should be concerned with.

"It matters. I want to know what they can find out. They seem to have some pretty solid sources to dig up information."

 _Ah, there is no way you could say no to information._ "So, let me guess, you can't simply ask from them so we have to do some complicated schemey stuff again?"

"Exactly," Azuhrius nodded with a smile.

"I don't wanna," Orchid whined. "I don't have the time either. I am in the middle of emptying this syringe!" He demonstrated by showing it to Azuhrius.

Azuhrius was not moved. "And they are making their move very soon. I have to hurry, I need some more assistance with this one. I have to tell Kaltrina to call Som in for this one," he said as he took his scroll, raised it to under his eyes and moved into the corner of the room to send a message a call.

* * *

"What's in it for me?" Nox asked from his side of the room where he was trying to build a bunk bed by piling his bed over Sangur's. So far his success had been unimpressive.

"Well, we are not exactly receiving any material profit from this mission, so there is no loot to be shared," Azuhrius explained.

"Then you can count me out," Nox retorted as he struggled with the balancing the bed on his back. It would be coming crashing down any minute.

"But you would get pancakes," Azuhrius offered a small incentive.

"Those things you get from store are not worth something like this. Those mass produced things are just no match for the true treats of a master baker."

 _Well Warp dammit, there goes all the control I have over you. Just any pancakes are not working anymore._ This was an unfortunate development, and a serious threat to continued cooperation of Team ASON. _Maybe Kaltrina gets to start practicing some baking._

"Please Nox, could you not do this out of solidarity towards your teammate?"

" _Soli_ \- what?"

Azuhrius let out a sight. One day he hoped to have a team that would actually do important things when asked, did not harbor barely restrained urge to kill each other, or was not all the time in danger of snapping and fucking everything up in near vicinity. _#squadgoal._

* * *

"What did Azuhrius Want?" Sangur asked Nox as they walked through the hallway of the dorm building, heading for outside. Nox had given up the project bunk bed after it had collapsed and squashed him under one of the beds. The blue haired guy had spoken to Nox about something but Sangur had not bothered to listen. Nox was nice filter of useless talk, he dealt with all conversation, negotiation and thinking shit and gave Sangur only the important stuff, so that he could focus on things that actually mattered. Like killing, maiming and burning. _We have a damn good arrangement that suits both of us perfectly._

"Nothing Important," Nox grunted. "He and Orchid are just heading for Vale tomorrow. Some shady business again, nothing that could benefit the two of us anyway."

"Something like the thing in the docks?" Sangur inquired. That time had turned out rather nicely.

"Something a bit similar, yes."

"Did you ask if there would be any glorious blood spilling... I mean, risk of having to resort to violence?" Sangur asked and corrected himself.

"No, just some information gathering, no risk of things getting aggressive," Nox assured.

"Dammit! Good thing that you said we would not take part in it," Sangur declared with some determined nods. "Well in that case, I think I will head to Forever Fall while they are gone."

"What? But you just were there last weekend ripping and tearing Grimm."

"One can never open veins in the name of the Blood God too often!" Sangur replied with a rough grin and a glint in his red eyes.

"You are gonna leave me here all alone?" Nox exclaimed. "Please don't, there are wild Nora's and Yang's and who know what else roaming around. I need you here in case they will come for me!"

"You could come with me," Sangur offered with a sudden idea. He grinned even more widely as he looked at Nox. "Come with me! It will be great! We will paint the forest red with the blood of those soulless fiends!"

"I think I will pass. I'll just do something else. Though I would like to go somewhere else as long as that _fucking_ _General_ is here" Nox growled silently. "And I think Forever fall will be plenty red regardless any blood spilling."

"What a lovely forest it is," Sangur agreed.

* * *

The area was nearly empty, which was to be expected. Very few people had a reason to be here at this time of the day. Azuhrius was pretty sure only members of Team RWBY would be coming after him and Orchid.

"Okay, our ride will be here any minute now," Azuhrius remarked as he and Orchid reached the main landing platform of the Beacon cliff. He remained standing on the outer ring of the round clear area reserved for airship traffic while Orchid got down to sit on the ground next to him. "We will be leaving a bit earlier than Team RWBY so that we have time to wait for them and can follow without the risk of losing them."

"When do your puppets join us?" Orchid asked while his head was tilted all the way so that his face looked straight up to the sky.

"Kaltrina and the rest of the operatives will meet us right after we land."

"Rest?" Orchid asked as he turned his face sideways to look at Azuhrius. "Kaltrina and Vi, but will someone else be coming?"

"I asked Som to take part this time, so she will be joining us as well," Azuhrius explained.

"Som..." Orchid said with a slight sneer. "Why're you bringing the Faunus with us?"

"Because one of the places we will infiltrate is a possible White Fang recruiting meeting," Azuhrius simply said. He could have explained further, but he knew Orchid did not care. "Don't mind about her, she will not be coming with you."

"Coming with me?"

"Yes, as I told you, we will be splitting up. Me, Kaltrina and Som will shadow Blake from RWBY to the White Fang meeting, while Vi will give you a ride so you two can keep up with Yang when she heads for shady part of Vale to meet her associate," Azuhirus went over the plan. Ruby and Weiss were heading for the CCT tower for some Schnee company documents, so there was no need to trail them. Azuhrius could easily acquire those documents from them later. There was supposedly going to be some sensitive data among them, and sensitive data always had its uses.

"You just need to keep out of sight and listen to whatever information Yang acquires. I trust you can do that. Do try to remember what is said, it would be shame if those sensitive ears of your went to waste because you forgot what you heard."

"Yes yes, got it."

"And no unnecessary fighting."

"Yeees Yeeees."

A gushing sound accompanied by hum of engines entered Azuhrius' ears, and it did not take long for the sound to be followed by a Bullhead that glided in from the north side of the area. It steadily made its way through the air and finally landed on the center of the large circular platform. The side hatches of the fuselage flipped open and a ramp extended from the side of the vehicle, clanking down against the hard surface of the platform to allow passengers to climb aboard.

"Shall we go then?" Azuhrius asked as he started making his way to the Bullhead transport.

* * *

Nox was watching the two of his teammates head for the recently landed air vehicle from a tree in close proximity to the landing platform. Azuhrius and Orchid reached the base of the ramp and started climbing aboard.

Nox was curious, but at the same time he felt like he should not give a damn what the snake and the queer did on their own. He did not have to keep an eye on them all the time, there was no reason for him to him to do anything regarding this little venture to Vale. It did not concern him, there was nothing for him to gain in any of it. He had plenty of things here at Beacon, even if Sangur had left for Forever fall and was not around. _Fine, I will just hang out with some other people. Like Jaune..._

The hatches closed down on the side of the vehicle, sealing in the two passengers and covering them from Nox's sight. The engine started humming more loudly as it prepared to lift off again.

Let them go, Nox though as he scraped the tree branch with his leg talons.

The airship's thrusts started to work the vehicle up from the ground, propelling the Bullhead into the air and turning its nose towards the city of vale.

 _Warp dammit…_ Nox jumped down from the tree and ran to the platform with swift strides from his mechanical legs. He jumped up towards the aircraft that hovered now at the height of few meters and climbed on top of the vehicle. He used his legs to bite in slightly to take a firm hold of the hull, while his hands clasped a good grip from the vent-like thing on top of the fuselage.

"What the fuck is with you Nox…" He muttered to himself. "Well, you can't turn back now, so hold on tight." He hung on as the Bullhead roared its thrusters and headed for Vale. "And its not like I have anything else to do."

The trip was of course quite short for the fast aircraft, which was good because it was fucking cold hanging on top of the hull. Nox was so glad he did not have to hang on for a longer flight. His Aura of course helped him with tolerating some of the cold wind, but it was still quite a thing to bear. He could only imagine how it would feel for a person not trained with using Aura. On the plus side, he just found a new method of inflicting agony to someone, so it was not all for nothing.

 _Note to self: Consider chaining someone outside the hull if you ever find yourself in possession of a aircraft. Because it is cold as fuck. Like, seriously_ , _hrrrrr_.

As soon as Nox was over the landing area of the city, let go and jumped off the craft. He landed neatly on the roof of one of the buildings on the edge of the landing pad used by Bullheads that trafficked people between the city and the academy. He took a vantage point at the edge of the roof which offered him a perfect view to the aircraft that was just about to land.

Azuhrius and Orchid excited the vehicle and set themselves to wait in one of the nearby cafes. It was a perfect waiting spot if one wanted to keep an eye on the arriving Bullheads, so Nox assumed they were waiting for Team RWBY to show up.

Nox also found that he recognized couple of people sitting in another table of the cafe. The two females working for Azuhrius who had helped out with the Great Dock Heist were sitting there enjoying some drinks, showing no sign that they knew Orchid or Azuhrius in any way. There was also a new face, a girl with a long and bushy golden hair. She seemed to be an associate of the two other females, so Nox assumed she was previously unseen of puppet of Azuhrius.

The five of them sat there for quite a while, and Nox waited with them from his observation position. Only when another Bullhead arrived from the direction of Beacon carrying members of Team RWBY and couple of random guys did Azuhrius and his company rise from their seats. They swiftly moved on, splitting into two groups. Orchid went with the violet haired female who's name Nox did not remember, and the two of them grabbed a motorcycle that had been parked in optimal position for rapid departure.

The female hopped on the saddle and started the vehicle, while Orchid crammed himself into the bulky side cart. The two of them waited in readiness, and when the blondie from Team RWBY left the landing area and started to drive with her motorcycle with some blue haired guy riding with her, the two of them swiftly shot after them in pursuit.

Nox knew he had no hope of trying keep up with the motorcycles, so who he was going to follow was an easy choice. Nox hopped along the rooftops, tailing Azuhrius and his two remaining female companions, who in turn tailed the raven haired girl of RWBY and some blond monkey Faunus as they made their way deeper into the city.

* * *

It was really easy to sneak in from behind because of Yang's explosive entrance. _Who uses ammunition to open doors?_ He would probably have done the same if he had a gun, though. That could be fun. Orchid had to admit, Yang had some level of style.

Now he was sitting in a corner of this guy's called Junior nightclub, out of sight from the direction of the counter where the boss guy was talking with Yang. The blue haired guy she was with kinda just stood not doing anything useful. But just because Orchid was out of sight, did not mean he was out of hearing distance.

For anyone else it would have been impossible to eavesdrop them from this distance with the night club's music playing on the background. But not for him, not at all. With his ultra sensitive ears he could pick up every word when he focused, and in fact, the loud music in the background actually made it easier for him to listen to them. It was a curious thing, Orchid smiled as he listened the song and the conversation simultaneously.

He had told the female operative Azuhrius had send with him to wait outside, he had no need of her except when he needed to get around the city again. Now he was just waiting, listening and memorizing anything important that was said. Which was not lot, by the sound of it, the Junior guy did not seem to know really anything that the Blond found useful. It did not take long for her to turn away and make her exit.

Orchid straightened up and stretched. Now his part was done, and he could have just taken his leave, but it would be a shame to miss this opportunity. Azuhrius surely would not mind if he stayed just a moment longer and used this opportunity to enjoy himself for a bit when he now happened to be at a nightclub.

He started to make his way toward the counter. The boss man was still standing there, and Orchid reached him just as Yang footsteps exited the place. "I am her friend," Orchid quipped as he took a seat by the counter. "I need to get going in a moment, but before that, could you give me quick shot? Oh, and I heard some of your boys never came back. My deepest condolences."

The man eyed Orchid. "I just know it was somehow Tony's fault," He muttered. "And how old are you?"

Orchid rolled his eyes. "Listen, let us not pretend that you give a fuck how old I am." He peered into the man's eyes while pulling some Lien chips from his pocked and spreading them on the table. "Give me your strongest drink."

The head of the club looked at Orchid, then at his money, and then he just shrugged as turned around and gave a nod to his henchman.

Orchid pointed his finger at the henchman before he managed to turn away. "Hey, I am afraid you just heard: give me a strong drink. What I said was: give me your _strongest_ drink. And I mean it when I say that."

The man called Junior smirked. "You know what, I think I know just what you want. I am warning you though, it is quite something." He snapped his fingers while pointing at one of the cold closets behind the counter. His henchman opened it and retrieved a bottle that contained deep black liquid. Then the bar grunt walked to opposite of Orchid and pulled forth the smallest glass Orchid had ever seen in his life from below the counter.

With a sour expression, Orchid looked as the black liquid was very quickly poured over into the tiny glass. When it was filled, Junior pushed it along the counter towards Orchid.

"Don't say I did not warn you," he said while retaining the smirk.

Orchid just pushed the minuscule glass with the ridiculous dosage aside. "This won't be necessary," he retorted, before leaning in and grabbing the drink's original black bottle. Then he opened it and gulped down one third of it just like that.

"What the hell!" Junior let out a cry. "Holy dust boy, do you know what's in that thing!?"

Orchid lowered the bottle and watched around. "Oh wow, I think I just lost my sight," he smiled with unseeing eyes. "To the darkness!" he raise bottle and drank half of the remaining liquid.

"Blood of the Grimm, this boy is crazy!" Orchid heard Junior say before everything went suddenly completely silent. _Oh Wow, I think I just lost my hearing. This is some good stuff!_ He proceeded to swallow every last drop from the bottle. _Well now I am kinda… oh wooooooooooooooooaaaaaaaaaaaow…_

* * *

Junior stared with stunned expression at the white haired boy who was now laying on the floor without moving.

"Dust, I think he died!" one of his boys cried as he ran around the counter to look upon the pale body.

"Why would he do that? That thing is like pure poison with that kinda ration!" someone else said.

"What do we do, we have to get rid of the body and…"

It was at that moment that the boys pink eyes opened. He rose from the floor with agile move and was soon again standing in front of the counter.

"Good stuff!" He exclaimed, before scooping up the yet untouched tiny glass on the counter and emptying it down his throat. "Okay, I think I must get going now, bye" he just said before turning on his heels and heading for the door, leaving behind Junior, his boys and an astounded silence.

 _What the fuck…_

* * *

The place was some kind of industrial warehouse, appropriately low profile but an accommodating gathering place for an organization like White Fang. There would probably be very few people around this area at this time of night who were here for any other reason than the gathering, but the security was still quite tight. Part of it could have been just demonstration of strength to impress new recruits, because first impressions were important with these kind of things, but there also seemed to be something actually worth all this security happening.

Azuhrius glanced around a corner at Blake and her Faunus friend Sung Wukong, who had somehow snuck on her information gathering trip at the last minute. The two of them were of little concern anymore. They had led Azuhrius right to the White Fang, and now he could proceed from here on his own.

There were soft footsteps coming behind him, and he turned just in time to see Som sneak to him and Kaltrina in the dark corner they were crouching in. She had a small white mask with slits for eyes that was the signature aspect of the White Fang.

"Everything went smoothly?" Azuhrius asked as he glanced quickly again around the corner to see Blake and Sun head for a doorway down the corridor.

"Yes, it was really easy. The guy just asked me to show my Faunus trait, so I gave him a glimpse at my ears and he gave me the mask," Som said with a quirky smile as she brushed her golden hair that covered the her animistic ears.

"Okay Good, put it on." Azuhrius ordered as he turned to face her. "And then, just like instructed, go with the flow," he said after she had fixed the mask to cover her eyes.

She grinned. "Off I go," she quipped with a small wave to Kaltrina before she headed around the corner and proceeded to follow the path Blake and Sun had taken.

After watching her enter, Azuhrius addressed Kaltrina. "Get outside and observe the area for any kind of disturbance. Contact Vi and ask a status report how things are going with her and Orchid. Tell them our location and order them to regroup with us here as soon as they are done with their objective."

Kaltrina nodded and quickly disappeared around a corner. "Be careful," she quickly whispered as she absconded.

Azuhrius was left standing there alone, and after checking his surroundings one more time, he activated his Semblance. His skin, his clothes and his body armor turned seemingly transparent in a smooth wave of disappearance like someone had thrown a covering curtain over him. It was not perfect invisibility, but when he was standing still, he was practically impossible to detect except from extremely close.

He started moving, his invisibility shimmering around him with the strange effect familiar from every movie depicting almost invisible things ever. He was much more detectable when he moved, but if he avoided people's direct line of sight they would never know he was there.

He slipped into a storage hall, quickly scouted the place with his gaze and then jumped up to catch the rail of an elevated walkway that was sprouting from the walls and going around the room. He managed to do so within a couple of seconds, without any reasonably detectable noise, and when he was standing on top of the walkway, he simply remained completely still and allowed his invisibility to hide him from cautious eyes. The closest White Fang guard was only about ten meters along the walkway on his right, and even he did not have a slightest clue of the infiltrator in the room.

There was quite a group gathered in the large open space of the warehouse. Over half of them were dressed in the faceless White Fang uniforms (When a terrorist organization has standardized custom made uniforms, you know its time to take them seriously), whereas the rest were casually dressed civilians. Azuhrius could pick out Som's long golden hair from the crowd of Faunus of every kind. They were all standing in front of a podium on the other side of the room, and on the podium was a large hulking shape covered with a black cloth decorated with the White Fang crest.

This seemed big. There were great things going on in the shadows of Vale, and if the nature of this White Fang gathering was any indication, it would probably get even bigger soon. With a window into the White Fang's plans like this, Azuhrius would most certainly find a way to benefit from anything that was to come. And when notorious criminal Roman Torchwick walked on to the stage, Azuhrius could almost have let out a laugh.

 _Jackpot..._

* * *

 **Next time we will see how it all ends up. There is a peculiar little encounter coming up that I think you guys might like. My Beta reader sure did.**

 **The voting period for the duel(s) is now over, although the poll will still be on my profile until the chapter comes out, so you can still cast in your possible unused votes. It won't change anything, but poll results are always interesting to see when the poll closes. It is pretty clear who you guys want to see take each other on.**

 **Also, Dawn of War III got an announcement trailer. Thank the Gods!** **Even if the Space Marines looked kinda** **scrawny...** **So many 40k games now days, what a time to be alive.**

 **Leave a review, if you feel it in your heart, and have a nice day.**


	21. Chapter 20

**Welcome back for another chapter of Chaos is the Prize. Possibly best chapter of the second volume so far, you decide.**

* * *

 **Chaos is the Prize chapter 20**

The Beowolf circled a grizzly bear, a faint growl vibrating its jaws as the red glowing eyes of the bone mask searched for an opening. Behind it lay the disintegrating body of another of its dark kin, one that had been just struck down by the tremendous strength of the natural beast.

The bear rose to its back feet in intimidation, letting out an animalistic roar that would probably have scared off a lesser beast, but the Beowolf did nothing but let out a bark in response. It lowered itself back on four feet on the red leaves of Forever Fall's scarlet forest bed, starting to slowly creep closer to the creature of Grimm.

The Beowolf started to stalk in a circle around the large animal and turned to face it head on, tensing on its back feet, ready to lounge.

With another loud howl, the bear rushed forward and came for the soulless beast in a wild rampage. The red eyes flashed as the Beowolf answered to the charge, leaping in to meet the other beast in brutal confrontation.

There was suddenly a completely new, mechanical, roar, and couple of seconds later the Beowolf's bone plated head was bloodily ground apart by the gnashing teeth of a chainaxe. The black body fell to the ground with only half of its badly mutilated head remaining, while another chainaxe came around in a swift and merciless strike to tear open the neck of the bear, tearing its way all the way into the spine. Both beasts, the natural and the soulless one, crashed lifelessly down on the ground. Their slayer continued to make his way through the twilight illuminated forest of Forever Fall without slowing down, seeking new victims and their life fluids to be sacrificed to a merciless deity on an altar of violence.

" _BLOOD FOR THE BLOOD GOOOOOD!_ "

* * *

Nox was hanging from the edge of the storage building's roof, peaking upside down from one of the windows. He squinted his black eyes as he looked upon the interior of the building he had found by following Azuhrius. The big open space was filled with people, most of them wearing distinctive white and black uniforms with Grimm masks covering their faces. White Fang seemed to have a party going on.

There was a big, like really big, robot on a stage in the room. It seemed like an industrially produced military vehicle, because the animals surely could not have built something like that on their own. It looked quite powerful, and Nox did not doubt that it could cause much havoc.

Nox did not see Azuhrius inside, but he was sure that the snake was using his Semblance to hide from the eyes of the guards. Nox would have needed to be inside to use his own Semblance to locate his team leader. But he would not be going inside. Azuhrius would not need to worry about him messing any of his schemes. "I'll keep quiet, you won't even know I'm here..." Nox muttered as he scanned the inside of the hall for his team leader for one last time.

Before Nox could think about what he would proceed to do next, there was a muzzle flash inside the room and suddenly all the lights inside went out. Nox could still see fairly well despite the darkness however, which was thanks to the VIIIth Legion blood in his veins.

The inside of the house fell into Chaos as the Faunus inside were surprised and scared by the sudden gunshot and the disappearance of the light. He could make out two figures that seemed familiar jump out of the crowd. The female was clearly the raven haired girl from RWBY, but he did not know her monkey tailed companion. They were seemingly trying to escape the place, and Nox assumed it was they who had caused the disorder. The two of them headed right towards the window, right towards Nox.

 _Oh shit._

Nox let go with his machine legs of the edge of the roof, dropping out of the ways just in time before Blake crashed through the window in a shower of sparkling glass. He landed on his feet on the ground, lifting his gaze to see two figures fleeing the scene at full speed.

Nox rose to his feet, brushing off few fragments of glass that had fallen on his hoodie. "Dodged that right in time," he remarked.

The very next second the wall behind him broke apart in a shower of stone as a huge warmech of death and destruction came crashing through it. It hit Nox like a ton of bricks, and the force of the blow sent him flying through the air, accompanied by a high pitched screaming.

* * *

Azuhrius watched as the everything went dark, and then saw light returning as giant mechanized battle suit tore a new exit to the building through one of the walls. The Faunus still in the building were in disorder, hurrying around trying to figure out what had just happened.

It seemed that something had alerted Blake and Sun, and the two of them had decided to get out of there using the most direct rout that happened to be the window.

Azuhrius scanned the room, his gaze lingering on the stage that had just been occupied by the warmachine. _Oh well, take advantage of good disorder when you are handed some._ He took up his scroll and proceeded to send a very quick and concise message.

After that Azuhrius grabbed the rail of the walkway he was standing on and jumped over it. He proceeded to make his way towards the stage by circling near the wall, using the combination of the chaos and his Semblance to move without detection.

* * *

"What in the warp was that?" Orchid asked from his side cart of the motorcycle. He saw something that looked distinctly like a giant fucking robot rampaging across the street from the direction of the building Vi had told him was the meeting place of the White Fang.

Kaltrina came sliding down a ladder from the roof of a nearby building, stopping right next to the motorcycle that Vi had parked there.

"I just got an order from Azuhrius," she said while holding her scroll. "He ordered us to follow that thing just now."

"Well, you heard her," Orchid snapped at Vi. "Get us moving."

Vi started the motorcycle, pulled down her driving glasses, and soon they were cruising down the alley after the giant robot.

It was not hard to track. The sound of giant footsteps could still be heard from afar. They actually caught up the machine enough to establish a line of sight, but then the fucking thing decided to jump onto a fucking highway. The motorcycle they were on could not possibly continue pursuit after that.

"I'll take it from here," Orchid quipped before he rose to stand on the side cart of the still moving vehicle "You think you could give me a very hard stop?" he asked with a smirk.

Vi did exactly that, turned the motorcycle sideways in a second, causing them to come to a very sudden and screeching halt.

Orchid, carried by the momentum and perfectly timed jump, continued through the air and right into the highway. "Way to go," he smiled as he landed on top of a moving car.

He could make out the shape of the mech ahead, the huge thing making its way through the highway full of cars. For a moment Orchid thought of going after it and closing the distance, but then a yellow motorcycle shot past the car he was standing on, and his keen eyes picked up a glimpse of familiar golden hair.

Orchid remained content to watch from afar, and soon there were some bright dispersion light around the robot. It seemed like someone was trying to take the machine down.

And then it slipped. The machine of Gods know how many tons lost its footing as if it had suddenly lost firm surface from under its lags. It crashed through one of the bright fences on the edges of the highway, and was hurled over it off from the highway.

Orchid waited patiently until the car he was free riding on top came to a halt when the cars that had been pushed all over by the mech blocked the way. Then he jumped off and proceeded to sprint the final distance to the part of the road where the machine had fallen off.

He saw the robot down by the support pillars of the higway, facing a group of four females that Orchid recognised as Team RWBY from Beacon.

"Well well," he chuckled as he leaped onto the edge of the highway, gazing down at the four girls taking on an iron behemoth. Before anything interesting could happen however, his sharp ears picked up sound of thrusters, and soon he saw a Bullhead fly from the direction he had arrived and hover over the area above the battlesuit. Then it made its way a bit further away from the scene of action, and started to lower itself for landing.

Orchid smirked as he followed it with his pink eyes, at the same time pulling forth Malevolence. They probably were some goons of the White Fang, Orchid deducted as he started to make his way towards the landing site of the aircraft, and no one would probably mind if something were to happen to them.

* * *

A single figure stepped out of the landed Bullhead, a very short figure. She held a fancy parasol open over her shoulder that matched her pink white brown clothing and tricolor hair. She walked forward with confidence, but she soon stopped only after couple of steps. She turned her head slightly so that her one brown and one pink eye looked straight at Orchid who was standing in a shadow of one of the giant pillars supporting the highway.

She blinked, her brown eye turning to pink while the other in turn changed to brown.

 _Such beautiful eyes._

Orchid strode forward without hurry, casually holding his gleaming sword only barely over the ground, taking in every detail and movement of this new arrival. This was not some run of the mill grunt of the White Fang.

She did not back away or adopt a combat stance. She simply remained calmly where she stood, showing a confident smile as Orchid approached. He could not help the faint smile forming on his lips as well.

Orchid was barely ten meters away from her now and still moving closer, and she still only smiled at him. She was short, so very short and delicate, and it became even obvious as Orchid kept approaching. He was tall, and when he finally stopped right in front of her and looked down, he was totally towering over her.

Yet she did not move. She stood her ground, parasol peacefully resting over her shoulder, and smiled. His Malevolence was less than an arm's reach from her, still aimed at the ground but he could have effortlessly moved it before she could blink and remove her head. Yet she did not move. She was not afraid.

He lowered his head just a bit, bringing it closer to observe her. Then he started to make a circle around her, steadily washing the gaze of his sharp pink eyes over her every side as he softly stalked full circle. She had a very nice color scheme, fairly similar to his own except he wore black instead of brown.

She watched him calmly as her neck turned, firmly holding her body facing forward. She turned her head around to meet him again when he emerged from behind her back. Orchid pulled to a halt where he had started his circle in front of her, looking into her now softly pink pair of eyes with his more vibrant ones.

She was standing right in front of him. Orchid could have killed her instantly right then and there. Or could he?

Orchid spun on his heels, walking towards the way he had originally come from. He stopped after about twenty meters, turning around to face the tiny girl again. Then he made an elaborate bow, bending his torso forward with his sword hand behind his back. He kept her on his vision the whole time, tilting his head in a way he could just barely see her.

And she answered to his bow, dropping a calm and refined courtsy. Orchid felt a jolt of joy and anticipation go through his body. She was totally different from all the other females. She was so beautiful, so graceful.

 _So_ _perfect_...

Orchid rose from his bow, swinging his sword to point at the smiling girl, the white blade reflecting faint violet illumination that had no source.

"I am Orchid Sonus, greatest of the IIIrd Legion of Adeptus Venatores, swordsman unmatched and a chosen champion of the Dark Prince!" he announced himself with a loud exclamation. He fell silent, waiting for the girl with her parasol to declare her name in turn. But she said nothing, only smiling her beautiful, perfect smile at him while her eyes changed color once more.

It did not bother Orchid however, and his face spread into very wide smile with dark light gleaming in his eyes. "Your silence offends Slaanesh…" he hissed through his smile.

And then he shot forward like a gunshot with his blade aimed and deadly.

* * *

"We are done here," Azuhrius simply stated as he seemed to materialize from the darkness of the night next to Kaltrina. He was holding something in his hand, a thin book or a magazine of some sort that Kaltrina assumed he had taken from the White Fang meeting place.

Azuhrius started to walk away, inspecting the book in his hand with interest, and Kaltrina followed beside him. She was interested what it was that Azuhrius had retrieved, but she could wait until the mission was over. "What about Som?" She inquired instead, as the Faunus girl operative had not arrived with Azuhrius.

Eyes flicking between the book and their surroundings in turns, Azuhrius continued to make his way. "She is infiltrating," was his short answer.

Kaltrina nodded, understanding perfectly. It had been big part of the reason why Azuhrius had ordered the only Fanus member of the Hydra Network to take part in this mission.

"Where are Vi and Orchid?" He asked without looking her.

"Vi is returning here. She was unable to give pursuit and observe the warmachine when it reached the highway. She said Orchid continued the pursuit on his own. We have not heard of him since. Would you like us to try contact his scroll?" Kaltrina asked.

"No, I will do that myself in a moment." Azuhrius replied. "Send a message to Vi and tell her to return to base of operation. Her part in today's mission is over. The missing battlemech does not matter. You might as well head back yourself as well, this night's business is done."

Kaltrina nodded. "As you will."

* * *

Malevolence spun around with the most elegant of slashes, coming towards the girl's tiny body with astounding speed, but the finely crafted parasol turned it aside with equal elegance. Just like it had done some many times before.

Orchid pressed his attack, slashing with his beautiful weapon with passion like a painter might sweep his brush when working on a masterpiece. His attacks were radiating grace and excellence, and the speed in which he performed them was simply breathtaking. The combat drugs were flooding his system, boosting his already Aura enhanced senses, reflexes and muscles even further, pushing his body into overcharge.

He was really putting in his best effort. Every stroke had to be perfect, the execution had to be sublime, the combined form and performance in complete harmony. Nothing less was acceptable against an opponent such as he was facing now.

She spun around his attacks, deflecting only with graceful redirections of his sword or dodging with agility and elegance which both sent jolts of pure ecstasy through Orchid's whole being as he reacted to them.

Orchid was the one doing most of the attacking, sending slash after slash, thrust after thrust at his opponent with his skilled swordsmanship. However, she possessed reflexes and quickness to respond to him, holding steadily her own against him. His incredible speed made her counter attacks very rare, but when they came, be it a fine kick from a heeled shoe or a strike from her parasol, he joyfully welcomed it with a masterful dodge or deflection. The depletion of Aura from either of them had been totally marginal, as neither of them had landed any solid hits.

It was not mere fighting, there was not even a hint of brutality, raw strength or blind violence. It was more like artistry, a diaphanous performance of two beings of supreme skill that blocked out everything else, like there were only the two of them in the entire world.

He loved it. He needed to have more of it.

With a sudden leap forward, Orchid performed an endearing slash with great reach and potential for damage, but she flipped her parasol downwards to push her up from the ground and proceeded flexibly haul herself over his shoulder. She passed his body so close that it was impossible for him to bring his sword back in time to strike at her in mid air, and so he spun around in intent of catching her when she landed again. His sword met only air as she skipped out of way, bending her frame to avoid the sword passing by her ear.

She was truly something unique. Her wonderful clothing, her extraordinary weapon of choice, her beautiful eyes, her never disappearing smile, all combined with her mastery of fighting.

With unquenchable thirst, Orchid drank it all in, mentally screaming in bliss, but the only sound vibrating in the air around them were the hits of their weapons that echoed into the nigh like sweet music. He felt so alive, so very, very alive. If only he could fill the air with her screams. If only they could both scream together then it would all be perfect.

Suddenly, right in the middle of their duel, Orchid could hear an electronic beep come from somewhere of his opponents clothes, and it was soon followed by a voice just faintly distorted by static. "Neo! These kids are really tearing this Paladin apart! I might need some assistance with getting away, fast!"

After the voice fell silent, she turned her head to show a peculiar smile to him. Then she performed a magnificent back flip to disengage from Orchid, but he had no intention of letting her get away. With a bounding leap Orchid went after her.

And he felt his sword connecting.

The instant he did not recognize elegant deflection or dodge under his swords sharp white blade, his mind flashed with anger. He did not want her to go down like this, he wanted her to continue until they reached final apex. The anger however melted away in a millisecond when her form shattered into hundreds of small transparent shards, like he had slashed at a mirror instead of a person. The glittering shards scattered in the air and his sharp eyes could marvel them as if in slow motion as they came apart, finally vanishing like they had never existed.

Orchid was left standing completely alone. There was no sight of her. Even the Bullhead she had arrived with was gone, and he hazily remembered it had relocated soon after they had started their duel. He turned his head around to scan the area for her but she was gone. He stood there for a while, staring emptily at the spot where she had tuned into glass and vanished.

Then he started to laugh. Somewhere inside he knew he should be angry that she had fled and left their marvelous duel behind undecided, be he could not feel any. He could only laugh with a high pitched and melodic voice that echoed into the night.

* * *

"Oh, there you are," Azuhrius said as Orchid came from a side alley and joined him. "I was wondering where you where. Did you manage to follow the battlesuit?"

"It did not get far. I followed to the highway where it was suddenly attacked by whole Team RWBY. They proceeded to tear it to pieces, nothing but scrap left now," Orchid shrugged. The two of them started walking calmly towards the airship traffic area, Orchid casually hands behind his head and Azuhrius going through some magazine or something. He nodded at it. "What's that?" he asked with mild interest.

"This?" Azuhrius said with a small smile while he raised the collection of pages in his hand. "I got it from the White Fang gathering place during the chaos that was followed by the battlesuit's departure. It is an instructional manual about the warmachine. They had couple of these laying around so I snatched one. They are apparently called "Paladins", a new piece of equipment from Atlas. They are supposed to be taken into use by the military in the near future, but it seems like White Fang has managed to acquire some prototypes." Azuhrius flipped through the pages and Orchid cached few glimpses of pictures depicting the warmachine and _a lot_ of text.

"And they apparently have quite a few of them stored away in somewhere," Azuhrius concluded.

"So?" Orchid asked not sure how it mattered.

"I want them," Azuhrius simply stated.

Orchid's eyebrows raised a bit. "You want them?"

"Yes, we are going to get them."

"Huh, okay."

Orchid rubbed his chin, wondering what time it was. "Hey, do you think stores are still open? Could we stop by and buy some ice cream before we fly back to Beacon?"

Azuhrius glanced at him with a bit of surprise on his face. "You want as to go buy ice cream?"

"Yeah," Orchid grinned.

"Eh, okay, sure. I think we can do that," Azuhrius retorted as he stored away the manual. "I did not know you liked ice cream."

Orchid just shrugged while still retaining a smile. "All Children like ice cream."

* * *

"They are probably fine, right?" Neptune asked from Sun on the seat of a noodle house.

"Probably," Sun replied from the next seat where he was eating his ramen.

"Who the fuck cares?" Nox snarled from Sun's ( _what a terrible name)_ right side while he emptied his own bowl.

* * *

 **So, what do you think of this chapter? What is your opinion of this development with Orchid?**

 **I forgot to answer Thagif's question last time, sorry about that. My answer is no.**

 **Huh, 20 chapters behind, 21 if you count the Omake. And so many still ahead, I would estimate about two times that many still in the future, but nothing is certain as long as Volume 4 is beyond our reach. Fortunately we have RWBY Chibi to keep us company during this Long Night, as well as the new season of RedvsBlue. I got this thought that maybe I could do Chibi picture of the Team ASON one day, what do you think of this idea?**

 **Next time should finally be time for the long waited Duels. Yes, I am having two of them based on the most prominent characters of the poll. The most requested duel pair might not be too hard to guess, but who do you think the other two will be?**

 **Leave a review, if you feel it in your heart, and have a nice day.**


	22. Chapter 21

**Okay, so. I am back after a bit of a break. The reason it took for this chapter to come out only now is because some slowness in the editorial phase, not because I was that busy or having a writer's block (I have never had one of those, strange).**

 **The chapter you are about to read might or might not be poorly reviewed and checked for errors, but I would not be that worried. Darkerpaths will probably drop by soon and point out for me all the writing mistakes that have slipped under my notice. And then I will recognize my failing and will be sure to correct it.**

 **So, this time we have our first sparring duel between the characters that you guys voted. Hopefully it will be worth the wait. This chapter became so long that I had to push the second duel into the next chapter, but you will be seeing that one quite soon. But first we have some dreams. Been a while since we had those, right?**

* * *

 **Chaos is the Prize chapter 21**

It was all somehow different tonight. Well, it was still the same old shadowy catacomby undergroundy place, but this time it seemed little bit… sharper and clearer. The walls of stones were still looking like part of them was formed from bluish mist and darkness, but not as much as in all the previous dreams. It was as if the surroundings this time had some very great significance, and it was expressed by the clarity it presented itself. One could get a feeling there was a strange sense of purpose, and that one should pay very close attention because there could be some details of great importance.

Ruby found herself standing at the end of a wide and tall rectangular hall, peering into the space from a large and empty doorway. There was another similar doorway on the other side of the hall, a same kind of high arching passage with nothing but darkness beyond. She glimpsed over her shoulder out of the high gate frame she was standing under, and when she witnessed there was only unclear blackness there as well, she took a step further into the hall.

The floor seemed to be made out of marble, worn and cracked like almost anything she had witnessed of this place in her previous dreams, but it was still different and something she had not seen before in her dreams. She walked forward with her boots making very little sound and gazed at her surroundings. Like every other time, she had no idea what the place was exactly or how she had got there. It did however had a very unique feeling hanging around it, like the air itself was feeling tension for drifting through the hall. She reached the halfway of the rectangular space and pulled to a stop.

There were high double doors at regular intervals along the long walls of the large room, ten on the left side and ten on the right side of her, all seemingly made of stone. They were very finely crafted and one of a kind, displaying carved illustration work of great skill. Each double door had a round central spot on them with a dominating symbol and some letters, every one different from the others.

The one at the end of the corridor on Ruby's left had an ornamented symbol of a sword framed by angelic wings and with a letter "I" carved under it. The one at opposite of it across the hall on her right displayed a large serpentine creature with three heads and "XX" under it.

There were many different symbols depicted on the stone doors along the hall, all accompanied by letters that she thought might signify some sort of orderly designation.

Ruby saw a great lightning bolt on one of the doors and a magnificent head of a wolf on the next one over. Another wolf's head on the opposite side, this one framed against a crested moon, uniquely sharing a space with another symbol, a singular great, crimson, unblinking eye. There were truly many kinds of symbols on the doors: a haloed skull, something that looked like a toilet seat, a wide and sharp toothed maw, a sun.

A door quite near the end of the hall drew her attention, because it was only one that was not more or less pristine condition like the rest of the high double doors. It sported a draconian head of some kind of a beast, but other than that large dominant symbol, the door's masterful carving work had been more or less ruined. It looked a bit like it had been vandalized, like someone or quite possibly many people with less than average sculpting skills had scribbled the door full with text of their own around the reptilian head. There was so much of it that it was impossible to read any of it properly. One line was almost readable. What she could read _might_ have said: " _-kan lives_ ", but it was hard to tell.

Ruby was not even surprised as she noticed Nox was all of a sudden in the room, like he had just materialized from the thin air. He was quite near the end of the row of door on Ruby's left, hunching in front of one in a position that was somewhere halfway between crouching and kneeling.

With few careful steps Ruby headed for him, not sure what was his state of mind this time. She stopped behind him, but Nox did not acknowledge the sound of her footsteps against the marble floor, remaining steadily low on the ground in front of the double doors.

Ruby raised her gaze to look at the door. This one's center was occupied with finely crafted sculpture of a slightly twisted skull that had bat-like wings sprouting around it. Letters "VIII" were clearly visible under the bit scary looking visage.

"Nox?" Ruby asked with a calm voice, trying to keep herself being affected by the strange surroundings. This was a dream like all the ones before it, there was nothing to fear or worry about.

With a slight bend of his neck Nox turned his head and looked up to Ruby from his hunched position with his familiar black eyes. He just looked at her for a long moment, and Ruby hoped he would not bounce on her and try to harm her, even if he could not inflict any real damage in this dreamscape.

"What are you doing here?" Nox finally snarled faintly, squinting his eyes a bit.

"That is something I have been wondering myself for quite a while," Ruby replied while rubbing her hands together nervously. "I know I never get an answer from you, but do you know why these dreams keep happening?"

Unsurprisingly, Nox just turned his head and remained silent. _So it goes like this again_ … Ruby sighed and took her surroundings in again with a turn of her head. "Can you even tell where we are this time? This place is giving me the creeps." Ruby asked while her gaze swept around the hall. Like many time before, she had a strong feeling that there was someone watching her and Nox, but the open space had no places where to hide behind and there were no dark corners. Only the two dark doorways at the opposite ends of the hall could have hidden anything from her sight, and she did not like looking at them.

"This place is a tomb..." Nox spoke softly with emotionless voice. He motioned with his right hand down the hall. "These are all graves." He lowered his hand to the marble floor and raised his head to peer up to the winged skull icon on the door in front of him. "And this one is the grave of my father."

Ruby snapped her head to look at the tall towering door in front of her and the hunched pale boy. "Your… your Father?" It certainly was quite extraordinary for a grave. Nothing like the final resting place of Ruby's mother. The tough made her take a unconscious step backwards. This place was surely quite significant to Nox, and she felt like she was intruding or something like that.

"So, he is dead then," she spoke and was hit with instant regret for the obvious words. "Sorry, I mean…" She did not find the words for the situation. She was not perfect when it came to dealing with people and this had come across her so suddenly. "I, eh, know the feeling," she muttered softly, and the words felt somehow right. "My mother is gone too, so I can understand." She just said what she feld deep inside.

"No you can't," Nox replied but without malice in his voice. "You don't understand me, and I don't understand you."

They just stood there, or she stood and Nox was crouched/kneeled, for a minute, only silence filling the air of the hall.

"When did you lose him?" Ruby finally asked and found that talking helped tremendously. Nox was not that nice of a person, but she felt like she should be not hold anything against him in a sensitive moment like this.

"A very, very long time ago…" Nox whispered. There was a pause of silence again and then Nox spoke again. "He… he did not like us very much… his children," He muttered silently and there was fleeting frailty in his voice Ruby had never heard from him.

It seemed that their relationship had been complicated. "What was he like?" Ruby asked with a sympathetic voice that she would have liked yo be used if anyone had asked about her mother.

Nox bend his neck and looked upwards towards the ceiling. "He was... a very troubled man... who had a very strong sense of justice," he replied.

* * *

"Ruby, have you seen my spoon?" Yang asked as she crouched down to peek under her bed, an unopened pudding container in her right hand that was in a desperate need of deliverance to her mouth. But she could not find the Deliverer for her Deliverance. She squeezed her pudding a bit tighter, as if she was afraid she was going to lose it if she lowered it from her grasp. She did not want this Deliverance to be Lost. Many other unopened packs of pudding had been disappearing lately, and she was sure someone was taking them when she was not looking.

"No, sis. Haven't seen it… wait, I think I saw Weiss with a spoon some time ago," Ruby replied from her upper part of the bunk bed.

"Aa-haa!" Yang exclaimed as she found a culprit responsible for her missing utensil. "Weiss!"

"What?" The white haired heiress answered from the door that she had been just about to exit.

"Did you take my spoon!" Yang demanded with as she got up from the floor and marched to her teammate.

"Yes I did, I returned it to the kitchen," Weiss articulated with that normal 'I have done nothing wrong, if anything I am the victim'- tone in her voice.

"What? Why would you do that?" Yang demanded with some frustration over the fate of her spoon. It was her spoon, hers!

"You have been keeping it in our dorm room for who knows how long, it was about time to return it. Seriously, how can you use the same spoon for all that pudding?" Weiss replied with a high class snarl.

"I want my spoon back…" Yang sniffed. Only now when it had been taken from her did she realise how much it had meant to her, how many good times she had had with it. She missed it, she missed it so much. She would go looking for it after today's classes were done.

"Come one, it is time for breakfast. You want to gather strength for the combat class today," Weiss threw over her shoulder as she headed back towards the door.

"Oh yeah, we have that today!" Ruby exclaimed as she jumped down from her high and mighty bed. "Can't wait for it, duels are always so awesome!" She beamed with a wide smile and hands squeezed under her chin.

"Don't we have some extra free time before it, reserved for preparation?" Yang asked. It would be a perfect moment for her to slip into the kitchen to look for her precious.

"Yeah, but we don't really need any time for preparations. We should just look for something to kill the time with before the class. And Yang, try not to dismember anyone if you get on the field," Weiss said with a glace at her fiery spirited teammate. "It is not a fight to the death, so take it easy even if they happen to touch you hair."

"Hey, if they do anything to my perfect hair, I won't make promises it won't be a bloodless match, Yang smirked as she patted her glorious golden mane. She would rather give up her right arm than allow anything to happen to it.

"Okay then, shall we go-" Weiss pulled to a sudden halt as she opened their dorm room's door. There was a tall figure there that she had almost walked into.

"I heard 'Kill', 'dismember', 'fight to the death' and 'blood', and got her as fast as I could, Sangur explained with his axes held up eagerly.

* * *

"Sangur, can you lend me your sunglasses?" Nox asked as he sat down to the breakfast table next to his teammates. He seemed to be on a foul mood, despite the fact that he had just woken from his regular weekend hibernation, which usually made him relatively serene. Relatively was the key word.

"No, these are a trophy won in battle, you cannot have them," Sangur denied Nox which somewhat surprised Azuhrius. "Unless you want to fight from them," Sangur continued with a sudden idea. "To the first blood?"

"No thanks," Nox snarled while rubbing his head. "I fucking hate summer. The sunlight is fucking so strong, why the hell do these dining hall windows have to be so fucking big?!" He grabbed his fork and impaled a sausage as if inflicting suffering to the food somehow eased his own suffering.

Orchid was sitting on Azuhrius' right side, scooping ice cream into his mouth for breakfast, which could not be healthy but Azuhrius did not feel like mentioning it. On the right hand of the white haired legionnaire was a scroll that he was using to search NSFW scrollnet memes. "What the hell, don't say that, summer is great!"Orchid exclaimed quite loudly to Nox, who looked like he was was considering suicide with a fork.

"Lower your volume," Nox grunted back at Orchid.

"If you ever say that to me again, I will rip your tongue out," Orchid replied without looking at Nox with his loud and hyped voice as he took some more ice cream. He was really a bit louder than usual, Azuhrius noted as he glanced around at the other students eating, but fortunately they were not drawing attention. Then someone poked at his shoulder from behind and he heard a feminine voice. "Hey, Azuhrius."

Azuhrius turned his upper body around with some surprise to find Teale standing behind his seat. "Oh hey," he greeted back.

"I am not… interrupting something am I?" She asked with a rather coy voice as she took a look at the rest of Azuhrius' team.

"No, not at all, Orchid is just getting his hormones rolling when summer comes and there is more sun light. Nox is just dying little inside when summer comes and there is more sunlight…"

"Ah okay," Teale said with a some faint relieved laughter. "So, I was wondering if I could talk with you for a moment."

Azuhrius found something unusual in her tone of voice. "Well sure, what is it?"

"Could we talk somewhere else, alone?" she requested as she motioned towards the door of the dining hall with her head.

Azuhrius' brows lowered a notch, and he wondered what could Teale want to talk about privately. "Okay, sure," he said and rose with his empty tray that he would take away along the way.

The two of them proceeded to walk away from the tables, and Azuhrius filed his used tray away. He poured some more water into his glass and took it with him as she lead them just outside the door where they were out of earshot of anybody.

"So, what is it?" Azuhrius asked as he took a sip from his glass.

Teale did not look him in the eyes, and she was fidgeting with her hands behind her back. She was silent for a very brief moment, and then she spoke with rather cautious voice. "Well… I was wondering if… if you would like to accompany me to the dance this sunday?" She said and glanced at Azuhrius nervously.

Azuhrius was disciplined and level headed member of the XXth Legion, and this sudden, totally out of blue, totally unexpected development did not, of course, faze him. He totally was not taken by surprise so much that he dropped the glass on his hands and Teale had to catch it with her fast reflexes. Nothing like this totally happened, totally.

 _Discipline leads to victory, discipline leads to victory..._

"Ah you see…" Azuhrius said after quick re composure when he received his glass back (the one that he totally did not drop, of course not, he was an adaptable head of the Hydra). "Unfortunately I will not be here, in Beacon, this Sunday. I am leaving early tomorrow and won't be back for a while. I have some family matters that require my attention.

"Ah, that is okay, I understand, if you must go," Teale stuttered while flailing her hands a bit. "I hope you a safe trip."

The two of them stood a bit awkwardly there for a short while, until they both said they would see each other around and Azuhrius returned to the dining hall and sat down with his team.

Orchid was looking at him and chuckling with a low voice almost uncontrollably. He probably had heard everything with his super ears.

"Be silent," Azuhrius retorted.

"I did not say anything," Orchid smirked.

* * *

"That's the match," Goodwitch declared as the Aura depletion siren buzzed off. Nora was finally done with what genetically modified super soldier like Nox would call utter and total ass-kicking she had been giving to Aureolin. The whole affair had lasted 24 seconds. It had been brutal and almost completely one sided. If it had been a movie, a fitting title would have been "Exterminatus".

"He's dead," Nox heard someone bluntly state behind him on the raised audience circle of the sparring arena as Kiara dragged her teammate's Noravaged remains out of the dual floor.

"Okay, on to the next sparring match," the Tyrant Witch ruling the class announced as she tapped at her scroll. "Let's see, who could we have next..." she said as her green eyes swept the students on the elevated seats.

Nox tried to shrink. _Please let it not be me, please let it not be me…_

"Miss Xiao Long, would you like to step down for a match?" The Professor said as her spectacles stopped on the blonde girl.

 _Oh yesss~, thank you._

"Oh yeah!" Yang sprung up with excitement and punched her fists together. "I have been waiting all day this for this!"

"Now then, is there anybody who would like to take on Mix Xiao Long?" Goodwitch asked as her head gazed around again.

Now there were considerably more people trying to shrink. Yang, Pyrrha, Nora. Those three were the three girls you did not want to get set against in a sparring match if you did not want yourself royally crushed. Yang's Semblance was the most overpowered thing around, and everybody knew it. Like, seriously, some really OP shit, please nerf.

Goodwitch's head stopped on the only raised hand. "Mister Calvarie, very well then."

Nox's head snapped at Sangur who lowered his hand. "What the hell are you doing? You are seriously not taking on that monster bitch?!" Nox would have instantly forfeited if he had been chosen against Yang.

"Will be good," Sangur roughly grinned as if he liked nothing more then getting set against a female made of fire, violence and lemon juice.

"You are sitting too close to a flame," Nox tried to say, but Sangur had already stood up and was heading away from the audience.

"Don't kill her," Azuhrius reminded as Sangur passed him. He only received a grunt in response.

"I hope the blonde kicks his ass," Orchid grinned as Yang proceeded to go after Sangur.

"I highly doubt she will," Azuhrius voiced his opinion. "She would probably be able to beat anyone of us, except Sangur. He is just too good of a counter against her."

Nox saw Orchid turn and glare daggers at Azuhrius. "I would wipe the floor with her," he hissed pompously. "I would win against anyone in this room, no one here compares to me!" Orchid's pride in his swordsmanship was truly over the roof, what was not uncommon among those who worshipped the Dark Prince. _Arrogant bastard_. Nox would have liked to see him get beaten to pulp by Yang.

"You might, you might not," Azuhrius stated calmly as he gazed onto the arena.

Orchid glared for a moment longer before he too turned his gaze to the stage where the battle was about to take place in a moment.

Yang emerged from the corridor leading to the arena, brandishing her shotgun-gauntlets around her wrists. She took one end of the circular combat ground and waved at her team who cheered for her in response.

Sangur entered the arena not long after, making his way unceremoniously to the opposite edge of the arena from Yang, Skalathrax firmly grasped in his barely unnoticeably twitching hands. He stood there, both chainaxes pointing at the ground as he stared over the field at Yang who was finishing her pre fight prancing.

Nox seriously wished Sangur would remain in control and remember that this was a sparring match that ended after certain amount of Aura was lost, not to the first blood or death. He was capable in non-lethal sparring some times, and other times he was not. Nox was biting his nails as he waited for the battle to start, hoping Sangur's Nails would remain at bay.

"Who do you think will win?" Azuhrius asked from Nox. "It did not sound like you had much confidence in his just now."

Nox snarled. "Normally, he reached melee, he is king. He gets kitted across the field, he is fucked."

"Hah, you think Yang will kite him?" Orchid let out with a laugh.

"I don't think that is the way Yang does things," Azuhrius smiled.

"I am not just sure how her Semblace will be affected by Sangur's Semblace. Does it work if it only strengthens her?" Nox grunted his thoughts.

"I would believe so, but I guess we will see," Azuhrius replied just before match starting buzz went off.

The blue haired snake had been right, Yang did not even try to use her advantage of long ranged weapon against Sangur. With a loud bang she was sent flying right at Sangur, who was more than happy to receive her, his twin axes roaring as he spun them around and gunned their engines.

* * *

 _The Sun Dragon comes at me without hesitation or caution. She hurls herself forward with her booming fist weapons in wild abandon. She is a true warrior. I rush in to meet her, welcoming the worthy opponent. The red Twins roar with thirst in my hands. She reaches me little past the center of the arena, and her momentum and powerful blow stops my charge and sends me reeling back. My boots grind against the surface of the arena as I resist and recover from the hammer of wrath of her furious charge. I right myself and smash her follow up strike aside with my left Twin. The right Twin reaches for her in an uppercut strike, but it barely scratches her as she leans out of the way of my blow. The Sun Dragon's fists are pulled back, ready to engage in a brutal series of hits in an attempt to overwhelm me. I don't even try to block and hurl myself forward in a opposing attack. I feel her hits connect with my armored chest, and the Red Twins both make contact with her torso. The teeth of the Twins grind against her soul guard, just as her hits hammer away mine. We are pushed back from each other from the power of our blows, but we charge in to meet each other again almost instantly. The ever present buzzing of pain in the back of my skull relieves just a bit as we mercilessly strike at each other. The pain is still great however, and it demands me to strike her down and spill her blood across the arena. I can feel the act of violent combat sending pleasure through my rewired brain, every smash and every hit rewarding me with a minuscule relief from the searing agony. But it is getting weaker, the level raising as the fight goes on. Just fighting is not enough after a moment. The pain in my head needs blood to sate it. I am still trading blows with The Sun Dragon, our combat now forming of pure beating of our opponent. She dodges sometimes, I do not if it stops me from delivering an slash from my axes instead. Our weapons meet in blocks meant to be attacks, my larger size and longer weapons giving me an advantage of reach. Her gauntlets spit out shrapnel and fire, giving her the advantage of damage caused even without proper hits. Until her weapon clicks empty. The power of her blows drops. There is no room or time for reloading from my unrelenting attack. In this fight the efficiency of strikes is outweighed by the volume of blows. Our fighting styles are similar. We both press the attack relentlessly. We hit hard, we hit fast. We are used to burying our opponents alive with ceaseless rain of powerful blow after blow. But she cannot match me in the fury I deliver my strikes with. My blood is on fire with the blessing of a God sitting on top of throne made of skulls. My brain is aflame with the pain flashing from the back of my skull. My axes hit harder than her gauntlets exhausted of ammo. I can feel her faltering in front of my assault, and I press on. The Sun Dragon manages to hit my arm gripping around one of the Twins, out of chance in the chaos of blows rather than any real intention. I lose my grip of the weapon. It scatters on to the surface of the arena away from my reach. The lose of my weapon gives her an opening and I can feel her fist connecting with the right side of my face. My soul guard holds, but it won't protect my body much longer. I am forced to kneel on my left leg by the power of the punch, but the effect of the blow is pushed aside by my red fueled fury. Red veil fills my vision and gives me strength to endure and retaliate. She comes for me, pressing the advantage she has achieved, but my empty hand comes around in brutal backhand blow that sends her tumbling back. I am up in a second and on top of her in another. She is on the ground, trying to get up but I am fast. My remaining Twin slashes across her midriff and a loud buzz signal goes off somewhere distant. I pay it no mind as the need for blood drives me on. I hack at her as she squirms on the ground. She screams at me. She is confused and disoriented. My left hand is grips her neck and silences her. She kicks and punches me with all she has. I see her eyes burning red, but there is no difference in the power of her blows as my own Semblance denies her's. She headbutts me, and a kick from her legs sends my remaining Twin scattering from my grasp. I tighten my fist around her neck, pulling up and then smashing her head against the ground. My other hand comes around and I ram it into her chin. I can feel her soul guard breaking. My fists now reach her body directly. I squeeze even harder her throat as the soul guard's resistance vanishes. My right hand continues to beat her head. She still has her weapons and her blows still rain heavy. I can feel my soul guard shattered away. My breastplate with the mark of the War God cracks, and blood drips from beyond the broken armor, landing on top of her and joining the blood spraying from her. Her skull gives in, and the fight is over. I can feel the fleeting exaltation of the brutal kill as the pain in my head is relieved by it. My hands are dripping red with her ichor that is added into the Lake, just as her skull is added high on the Skull Throne. I can feel the Blood God's gaze upon me as the Sun Dragon's blood spreads across the arena..._

* * *

"She has much better mobility, but she is not using it." Azuhrius said out loud as he observed Sangur and Yang just going at each other in a royal storm of violence. They were just constantly locked together, trying to tear each other to shreds. Both of their Aura leaves on the display screen were steadily being chipped away.

Sangur had armor which give him another advantage in straight forward trading of blows, so his Aura was dropping just slightly slower than Yang's. The blond girl's strength was also not growing with the damage she took as it would have with any other opponent. When Azuhrius saw her weapons run out of ammo, the battle was as good as settled. _She can't out damage Sangur._

Azuhius glanced at Nox who was sitting on his right side. The sickly pale Legionnaire was now smiling as he saw his teammate clearly winning the match on the Arena. Nox had been worried that Sangur might not be able to handle Yang, but Azuhrius was pretty sure that was because of Nox's fear of Yang rather than any doubt of Sangur's prowess.

 _Don't take on the followers of the Blood God in melee, that is the only thing they are good at._

The furious struggle of two opponents trying to best one another suddenly reached its final. The sound of Aura depletion reaching the tournament limit echoed loudly. The match had been fast, but that was to be expected when the two fighters did nothing else than hammer at each other.

The fighting was broken off. The two fighters stepping away from one another as if they had just woken up from a trance. Yang backed off more hastily, the expression on her face depicting the coming realization that it was over.

Sangur took couple of steps back more tensely, and Azuhrius could see it took quite some restraint and self control for him to break off the engagement. His hands were twitching and some spasm run over his strained face. He was holding the bloodlust back to by pure strength of will. He was young, he was still able to do it relatively easily. Azuhrius was glad he was capable of something like that. He relaxed on his seat as it did not look like there was need to be prepared to act since situation was not more in danger of getting out of control.

Azuhrius turned his gaze to the large monitor displaying the Aura levels and the Victor of the competition, as did everyone else in the room. Yang's Aura level was at 7 percent, the bar shining in bright red and symbols meaning elimination clearly visible. It was quite low because it had taken them time to disengage from their hard driven contest.

Sangur's yellow bar had 23 percent left in it, and it was surrounded by the highlight that marked him as the winner.

The arena was quiet for a few moments as the audience contemplated the fact that Yang the Destroyer as just defeated in a fair fight. Then the shouting and cheering started.

"Nicely done, I had full faith in you all the time," Nox chuckled as he slapped Sangur on the shoulder after the tall Legionnaire had taken a seat again on the elevated spectator ring of the arena.

Sangur merely let out a grunt as he swiped the sweat off his forehead. "Good fight."

"I could have taken her way down way faster," Orchic commented smugly. "Yang nor anyone from her Team would pose a true challenge for me."

Azuhrius glanced at Orchid, hoping he would not take the field next. He was only slightly better in holding back in fights than Sangur, and they had already tested their luck once, no need to push it.

"I think Ruby could match you in speed," Nox smirked, probably not because he actually though that or because he had any respect for the scythe wielding girl's skill, but purely because it annoyed Orchid.

"Nobody is as fast as I am!" Orchid smeared with a glare.

"The Red Reaper would crush you," Sangur stated like there was no doubt about it. "Red goes faster."

Orchid snorted arrogantly. "Lightish red goes fastest."

Before their bickering could continue any further however, they were interrupted by Professor Goodwitch.

"Mister Lernaean!" She called out from the arena with a raised voice and Azuhrius realized he had probably missed her calling to him just now.

"Oh, sorry. Yes Professor?"

"I was asking you to take part in the next sparring match," She explained as she fixed her glasses. "I assume that is okay with you?"

 _What? She wants me to me fight? Well, that should be alright._

"Of course," Azuhrius replied hastily as he looked around. He had missed who his opponent would be. "Sorry, I was distracted. Who am I fighting against?"

"That would be me," said the white haired heiress of the Schnee Dust Company with a smile from little further along the audience.

* * *

 **So that was the match between Sangur and Yang, hope you guys enjoyed it. The poll results should now be visible should you want to take a look at them.** **Sangur and Yang were the overwhelming favorites of the poll. Sangur had 50% of the votes from ASON side, and most people wanted him to especially fight against Yang, who had 50% of the votes from canon character side.**

 **As you can see from the end of this chapter, the other duel pair that I will be having is Azuhrius vs Weiss. They had second highest percentages of votes from their respective sides, though only one person wanted it to be specifically him and Weiss. He was also voted to go against Ruby and Yang. Weiss was also once voted to fight against Orchid and Sangur (the latter who already had an opponent), but since Azuhrius had 33.3% of the votes from ASON side, I put the two of them together.**

 **Now I know the poll said the fight was going to take after the fight between Pyrrha and CRDL, but I found it worked much better before it, so don't mind the little things.**

 **The next chapter is therefore going to start with a sparring match between Azuhrius and Weiss. Place your bets. I promise the next chapter is coming much quicker than this one.**

 **Leave a review, if you feel it in your heart, and have a nice day.**


	23. Chapter 22

**Aaaand here comes the next chapter. I said this one was coming quick didn't I. Azuhrius VS Weiss this time as was promised. And then some other stuff before Azuhrius leaves Beacon for a while.**

* * *

 **Chaos is the Prize Chapter 22**

"Does anyone else have a feeling that he might just lose on purpose?" Nox asked from his two remaining teammates when Azuhrius was out of earshot. Maybe the snake would think that going all out would somehow give something away from him, and so he might think it would be better to just let everyone know as little as possible from him by losing intentionally.

"That would be just like him…" Orchid growled. "He could even do it purely because of the feeling he gets when people have an misleading evaluation of his skills.

"He does not have a melee weapon," Sangur added his own important input like the weapon was what mattered most.

"This could be really boring to watch if he just throws it," Nox muttered while scratching his chin thoughtfully. "Is there any way we could motivate him? It will be so much better if he tries to win and gets rekt."

"How do you motivate someone like that?" Sangur grunted. "You could promise him the most violent, brutal and glorious battle ever, of all time, and he would still be like 'no thanks, I am fine'. What a weirdo."

"Could we threaten to reveal something he does not want others to know?" Orchid suggested with a nice stab into Azuhrius' back.

"Like what? We are not telling anyone any Legion business, that could lead to so much trouble that I would rather avoid." Nox rejected it. "Unless you have something to reveal about him that could not harm us as well, we have to think something else."

"We don't have to say anyone anything if he loses, but let's just bluff and _say_ that we will spill all his secrets if he does not win," Orchid offered.

"You have a nice point. But what would we threaten to tell about him?" Nox asked.

All four of the sat silently there for a moment.

"Does… anyone actually know anything about him?" Nox asked after a while.

"One does not know things about Azuhrius, one only believes they do," Orchid commented.

Nox could not think anything good in the short amount of time he had before the match would begin. Ahhh, fuck it, bribing it is then.

He turned his head to the direction of Azuhrius' moving back. "Hey, Azuhrius! If you win this one, we will be a good team and do everything, reasonable, you want us to do." That should get his attention. "But for two weeks only!" he added as it needed to sound at least a bit realistic like a he was seriously suggesting a deal.

Azuhrius glanced over his shoulder and looked at Nox with his green eyes, but quickly turned back and continued his journey away from the audience. Nox was not sure if the snake had taken up the offer.

"Were you serious?" Orchid asked, unconvinced. "You actually gonna follow his lead for a while?"

"Of course, I am a man of my word!" Nox replied with stern certitude.

"Huh, okay then I gues- wait a moment, no you are not!" Orchid realised with accusing voice.

"Well, hopefully hearing that makes him try to win even a bit more," Nox replied with a shrug.

* * *

Weiss was the first one on the arena. As she waited her sparring partner to emerge, she quickly took in the audience that was quietly anticipating the start of the match, except for certain ball of red and black that slightly bounced on her seat and cheered for Weiss to do her best. Yang was squeezing her fists next to her sister and growling for Weiss to avenge her. She tried not to smile as she turned her back on her team. She failed.

It did not take long for Azuhrius to make to the arena, and when he finally entered the circle from the locker rooms, Weiss could not help noticing how terribly nervous he seemed. His steps were unsure as he made his way on the opposite side of the battleground, and he was constantly removing the current clip of his bulky gun and replacing it with a new clip, only to change it as well for a fresh one a moment later with fingers slightly shaking.

Part of Weiss understood that it might have been a bit frightening to face an notoriously highly skilled opponent such as herself, as Azuhrius was not exactly famous for his fighting skills. Part of her was annoyed, because she was surely not that scary, right?

Azuhrius finally stopped on the other side of the field, slipping a magazine into his weapon that hopefully was not going to be reloaded in a second. He must have gone through all of his magazines, probably some of them several times, Weiss thought.

"Are you ready?" Glynda asked them, maybe more from Azuhrius than Weiss. They both nodded, Weiss with confidence, Azuhrius with slight hesitation. Glynda manipulated her scroll and the five second cool down timer leading to the start of the match started ticking down.

Weiss took those few remaining seconds to analyze her opponent. Azuhrius was standing on the other side of the field, aiming his bulky gun straight at her. She would have to deflect the first shot before dodging and using her Semblance Glyffs to close the distance. He does not have melee weapon, so I have an huge advantage on a small battlefield like this. His gun is only good for the first few seconds before I close the distance and then my rapier will do short work of him. I have to remember not to beat him too embarrassingly in front of everyone~.

Three second before the start match.

She raised Myrtenaster in front of her where she could easily deflect the first shot. Weiss knew the trajectory the shot would take so it would not be even difficult.

Two second before the start of the match.

Weiss tensed and prepared to execute her deflection and the following dodge Semblance combo.

When there was one second left before the start of the match, something totally unexpected happened. The poorly loaded clip in Azuhrius' gun slipped out and dropped to the ground. Weiss could not believe the phenomenon she had just witnessed happen in front of her eyes. How nervous had Azuhrius been when loading that clip!?

The start sound declaring the match started rang out just as majority of the audience broke into laugh at the sight of such a ridiculous situation. It was not everyday you witnessed something like that.

Weiss relaxed herself a bit. She would not use this unfortunate incident cowardly to her advantage. Her rapier's point lowered just a hint. She respectively, like a noble and dignified person she was, would wait for Azuhrius to reload his gun and they would continue their duel properly.

Then she noticed the look on Azuhrius face. All the nervousness was gone like it had never existed, and there was a glint in his green eyes accompanied by a stealthy smile.

At that moment, Weiss Scnhee knew she had screwed up, just before the singular bolt that had been chambered into Azuhrius' gun impacted her chest.

* * *

When shooting at an person possessing a Huntsman-grade Aura, it was important to know where to shoot for maximal damage. Someone who had only faint protection from Aura or who was rendered Auraless would naturally suffer most harm from hits to the head, but with sufficient Aura levels things were different. The protective field would deflect almost anything, limited only by the amount of Aura reserves. Sure the protection was not perfect and some minimal damage, especially from blunt impacts, might get through but that was usually of little concern. As such the main objective in a fight was usually to cause as much Aura loss as possible.

When wielding a melee weapon it didn't matter as much, because the weapon was wielded by and Aura user and as such benefited from the empowerment of the soul manifestation and the skill of the wielder. A bullet did not have any of that. The shooters assistance to to the projectile was over the moment it exited the barrel.

That is why head was a poor target, because its round shape would greatly help the Aura to redirect any impact force of the projectile. Only when the intention was to cause disorientation and shock was targeting the location of most sensory organs sensible. Limbs were poor targets for same reasons and were hard to hit. The power of the shot was most well spent when it had as little deflection as possible and the force of the impact was forced against the Aura, thus creating greatest possible depletion.

The center mass of the torso was thus the best possible target, and it was also easiest to score a hit against. No matter how tempting it would be to go for the head when an opportunity presented itself, it was practically always best to shoot for chest and the back because of the greater stress to the Aura.

In a battle between two Huntsman-level Auras, it was important to optimize the depletion caused to the opponent, and when one only had a ranged weapon it was even more important.

Azuhrius did not waste precious time picking up the diversion magazine lying at his feet. His hands were already in motion to reloading a fresh one into Stalker, retrieving it from his belt with great expertise. The clip slipped in fast and a new round entered the chamber.

Weiss had been taken by surprise, but it would not last for long. If she got close it would all be over. Azuhrius needed to start draining her Aura down fast and keep her disoriented with constant fire. He was also preparing his following move when that would fail, just as his weapon started spitting miniature rockets across the sparring arena.

* * *

The ammunition used by Azuhrius' gun hit really hard, Weiss learned that the hard way. It did not just impact as a massive solid slug, it actually exploded right after making contact, shrapnel spraying against her Aura as she recoiled from the unexpected first shot.

She did not know exactly how much it had depleted her Aura, but from the feel of it, it must have been around fifth of it. What the hell kind of ammunition is he using? It felt like she had been hit by Ruby's high impact scythe rifle.

She could not be disoriented by this, she thought as she righted herself, going into full battle mode. There might have been only one shot in the gun without magazine, but it would not remain that way, and there would be more on the way any second now. She needed to be ready.

She considered using her Glyffs to close the distance, but she realized she did not have the time as Azuhrius finished reloading his gun and started firing at her with semiautomatic fire that could have passed for full automatic burst of gunfire.

In the small window she had, she decided that deflecting would be unwise because of the exploding nature of the high speed projectiles. She rolled to the side and started sprinting around the edge of the circular arena.

Azuhrius adapted to her movement and started to direct his shots after Weiss and then trying to lead forward where she would be. She had to make some sudden moves to avoid the gunfire, and more then once she felt a some of the shots scratch at her Aura.

She only had to keep this up for few seconds, and then Azuhrius would be out of ammo. There was no sanctuary for him when it would happen, and Weiss would pay back that humiliating start to their match.

The sound that Azuhius' gun made was barely audible because of the inbuilt suppressor, making the shots sound like dampened metallic clicks and squeaks rather than loud explosive blams. From this close distance she was however able make out when the sound died off.

The moment she heard the silent repetition stop and felt no more ammunition flying past her, she stopped and turned to face Azuhrius, her hand already in motion to cast her Glyff that would propel her right into his face.

But she could not find him. She scanned the arena in a second, but there was no sight of the blue haired boy with a large gun. Only thing beside her on the circular battleground was an cylinder slowly spinning at the center, one end glowing blue and the other red.

There was a sound of releasing gas as the ice and fire dust inside the cylinder combined to release out a thick mist cloud that quite fast enveloped all of the arena. Weiss' visibility became zero in a few seconds as the gray curtain swallowed her.

Weiss could not see anything, but at least Azuhrius could not either. For a moment she had been worried that maybe he had some way of seeing through the mist, but as the time went on and there were no bullets flying at her, she concluded he was as blind as her.

Weiss rocked her brain, trying to come up with a way to turn this unexpected situation. She could probably have made the mist disappeared with an appropriate channeling of Wind Dust, but she also realized Azuhirus knew she was capable of that. He would be most likely waiting for her to make such a move, and as soon as she became visible, she would be a target for some heavy clip emptying from a direction she could not predict.

Suddenly there was popping and scratching sound coming all around her as if something small and numerous was falling down to the arena. From the sounds they made, she deducted they were something very small and not that heavy, and that there were a lot of them. She could feel couple of those somethings bounce against her shoes and she took a step backward in fear that they were somewhat dangerous, but nothing happened and after a moment everything was completely silent again.

Weiss understood there was something on the floor all around the area, something that Azuhrius had thrown around, but she could not see the ground even directly beneath her in the mist. She took a careful step forward, and felt something small and frail break under her shoe. Weiss realized she found it familiar. Something crunchy, like….. cereal?

There had been some serious corn flake consumption in the dining hall, and she could not forget the sound it made.

As Weiss completely crushed some of the flakes under her shoe, she also realized how loud the noise it made sounded in the otherwise completely silent arena.

Oh snit…

She jumped out of the way just in time, diving forward in an arc as a burst of gunfire sweeped the spot where she had just been. The shots missed by relatively large margin, but she was not even near safe. As she landed she crushed some more cereal under her feet, and the hail of bullets were quick to follow the sound of them breaking.

Weiss danced around, her only choice to keep moving and dodging. She had no idea where the shots were coming from as the suppressed sound was not clear enough for her to pick up the direction while dodging and crushing cereal, and Azuhrius' gun did not release a muzzle flash.

A plan formed in Weiss' mind, and she finally saw an way to get on the top of things. She waited until Azuhrius ran out of ammo, and when the the shot were no longer raining at her, she made her move.

She jumped into the air, channeling a glyph to boost her high up. Her vision did not get much better, the mist was still hiding her opponent from her, but she did not need to know his exact location.

With a spin in the air, Weiss aimed her rapier downwards towards the arena, releasing all of the ice Dust from Myrtenaster's storage. She could not cover the whole arena, only about half of it, but that was a gambit she just had to take.

The half of the battleground she had chosen was covered in a thing but considerable enough layer of ice, turning half of the arena into sudden skating course. As Weiss began to fall down, she released Wind dust from her weapon to deal with the mist. Then she could only pray she had hit Azuhrius with her ice, because if he was not being distracted by his feet suddenly freezing into the ground, she would find a lot of ammunition coming her way when she hit the floor without the cover of mist.

Weiss landed in an elegant pose right at the center of the arena, right on the edge where the frozen part of the floor started, quickly scanning the fast dissipating mist. Well, I am not yet being hammered by bullets, so that is a good sign.

It did not take more then a second for her to locate Azuhrius, who was rather comically fused to the ground by the layer of ice. He was trying to get himself free, firing at the ice chaining his boots, but when he saw her, the blue haired boy swiftly spun his bulky gun around to release a silent barrage right at her.

Weiss dodge easily by sprinting to the side, and now that she had Azuhrius immobile, she reached out her hand hand and created a shimmering black right under him. She smiled as she saw the dark circle take affect.

The little ice Azuhrius had not managed to break loose from his feet shattered as the boy was thrown into the air by the sudden and powerful thrust of an invisible force. Weiss looked up to see him go, simultaneously channeling Semblance to create multiple shimmering icy blue star around her. As Azuhrius started falling, she spun her rapier around in and wide arc and ended with a thrust, gathering the floating balls of energy and sending the forward as shooting stars to intercept his descending body.

The shining mini comets made contact with Azuhrius right before he hit the ground, forming white rings of imprisonment and chaining him into the air with all limbs stretched helplessly wide open.

Weiss did not waste time, gliding forward towards her immobilized sparring partner, releasing some fire dust from Myrtenaster to vaporise the ice in a path in front of her in a rather theatrical move. She stopped right in front of the floating motionless Azuhrius. She raised her rapier with a victorious smile and pointed it at him.

"Your bag of strange tricks truly is endless," Azuhrius huffed from behind his lips.

Weiss smiled widely at him like a noble and masterful fighter she was, and then slashed her rapier in a motion as if she was writing a big "W" into Azuhrius' breastplate, quickly repeating the motion until she heard the buzz of sufficient Aura depletion crown her victory.

* * *

After his defeat in the hands of the White haired Heiress, Azuhrius had returned his seat on the audience. When he hat sat down defeated next to his teammates, Orchid expressed how disappointed he was, while Nox was cackling so uncontrollably he could not say anything for a while. Sangur had simply grunted "Witches be bitches," while eyeing Weiss with a look of distaste.

While waiting for the next match to begin, which Azuhrius found out to be the entire Team CRDL against Pyrrha Nikos, Azuhrius reflected back to his defeat, and came to conclusion there had been little he could have done to change the result of his sparring match. He simply could not stand against anyone as skilled as Weiss in this kind of fair arena match, who in addition had an extremely powerful Semblance, as well as a master crafted weapon that probably only someone like Schnee Dust Company Heiress could afford.

The match between the Mistralian champion and the Team CRDL went pretty much as anyone could have expected, with the team of four boys getting decimated in a way that made Azuhrius' defeat pale in comparison.

The other three members of his team were having a very rare laugh together on Russell's expanse, and Azuhrius hoped no one would wonder why they found, by their own words, "Russ getting his ass kicked by the red head" extremely hilarious.

The sparring class finally ended with a surprising match between Pyrrha Nikos and a visiting Mistralian student named Mercury black. The fight never concluded, as the silver haired boy forfeited not long after the start of their match. Azuhrius assumed he had just been wanting to gauge her strength for the upcoming tournament.

"Those were not real bolt shells you were using," Nox said to Azuhrius as a statement, not a question, as the Team ASON made their way away from the combat class.

Azuhrius glanced at his pale cousin. Nox had keen eyes. "No, they were not. No way I would use my sparse supply of genuine bolt shells to something like a sparring match. I used the school's weapon workshops to make those that I used back there. They are of inferior material, design and effectiveness compared to proper ones, but they are cheap, easy to make and get the job done."

They had no way of manufacturing new bolt ammunition back at Terra, which made the remaining ammunition a precious and sparingly used resource. Many of the Legionaries at Terra did not even use weapons that needed ammunition because of lack of infrastructure to support them. Azuhrius was one of the few who still retained a bolt weapon and a decent amount of ammunition for it, and he was quite sure there was only one other Legionnaire in similar position.

"Would it be possible to produce new shells with what equipment they have in this Kingdom?" Nox asked with shrouded interest. It was something that Azuhrius had been investigating quite intently.

"I am not sure," Azuhrius answered. "Maybe with enough quality resources and proper expertise." They had neither the equipment, resources or expertise back at Terra. But it did not have to always be that way.

Nox remained silent, and Azuhrius hoped he had not developed a need to have a boltgun. He moved his Stalker just a bit further away from Nox as they made their way down the hall.

"Nice job with the Ice Queen back there," Nox remarked with a bit too sudden change of subject. "Really got your ass handed to you. We can all be proud of our mighty leader from now on."

"After that hilarious fight between Pyrrha and CRDL, I wanted to take on some team too, but the fucking class had to end," Orchid pouted.

"Yes yes, you are the very best like no one ever was. I am sure that you would totally not get you ass royally handed to you if you took on a full team," Nox muttered with his voice drenched in malicious sarcasm.

"I would have liked to take on the White Witch," Sangur grunted from Nox's right side. The despising tone of his voice indicated it was not because he though Weiss as a worthy opponent.

"You would have eaten her alive," Nox smirked.

* * *

"That was a great class we had today!" Ruby beamed as she entered their dorm room, followed by the rest of her team. "Weiss you were great! You really showed Azuhrius who is the boss!" she said for about tenth time. Weiss was not getting tired of hearing it. It had been a match quite like she had never had. Azuhrius had a terribly sneaky way of fighting, a way that was really infuriating to fight against.

"Much better than me…" Yang half grunted half growled as she made her way to retrieve some pudding from her stash.

"You did not think about at all how to best fight Sangur," Weiss pointed out. "You just went at him. You could have done it much more smartly."

"Oh please give me some of your Weiss~ guidance so that I might learn," Yang said with a snarky smile. "Get it? _Weiss,_ Wise?"

Weiss rolled her eyes, but on the other side of the room Ruby let out a slight snort.

Yang pulled a spoon from her pocket and plunged it mercilessly into the heart of her pudding. "Hey, where did Blake go?"

Weiss spun around. Blake had been with them just a minute ago. She had been sure the Faunus girl had followed them to their dorm room. "We really need to have a talk with her," Weiss declared after a sight.

"Yeah, I know what you mean," Ruby muttered with a worried look.

"You are so right," Yang stopped her spooning of the food for a moment. "Does anybody remember when she last slept? She is starting to look just like Nox!"

"If she falls asleep during class, we have officially more people in our team who have fallen asleep during class than Team ASON, and I don't know if I can handle that," Weiss voiced the realisation that had just come to her. Ruby had fallen asleep more than once during professor Port's lecture, and Orchid had brought the situation into 1-1. "I don't think I have ever seen Nox sleep in class."

Weiss glanced at Yang who was now opening a second package of pudding. "So you went and got a new spoon. Please try to return it to kitchen after you have used it." Weiss narrowed her eyes. She looked at the utensil and it seemed kinda familiar. Yang… that is not the same spoon you have been using lately, is it? The one I just returned to back to the kitchen?"

"Yep!" Yang exclaimed with a wide smile. "I went to the kitchen and got my baby back. My Deliverer for my Deliverance!"

Weiss had trouble to find words for a moment as she stared her blonde teammate with wide eyes. "How… how did you even find it among all those utensils?!"

Yang shrugged and took another spoonful of pudding. "I don't know, I just kinda recognised it. It is a bit bigger and a bit heavier than all the other spoons. It also has a totally different feeling and handling to it."

Weiss did was not sure what to think. "That is kinda scary..."

* * *

"After you are done eating, head back to the dorm room," Azuhrius said as he rose from the breakfast table with a tray in hand that was emptied from food. "I have something important to business to take care of before I leave."

Sangur raised his head from his bowl of cornflakes that he had been eating without any utensils and looked at the team leader of Team ASON. "You are going somewhere?" he asked.

"I think I mentioned it to you," Nox notified the progeny of the XIIth Legion that was sitting next to him. He had in fact mentioned couple of time but now it sounded like Sangur had not paid attention, which was not that rare of him, Nox though. "He is making a trip to visit Terra…" Nox smeared the name out like a curse.

"You are?" Sangur muttered with a bit of surprise.

"Yes. I need to deliver some dust back there personally since traveling and moving cargo between Kingdom's has become rather difficult of late."

Nox glared at Azuhrius from under his lids. The snake had probably two of three other reasons as well to go back to the ruined Kingdom, but Nox did not expect to hear them even if he had asked. Azuhrius had been preparing to leave ever since yesterday's combat class, and some of the things Nox had spotted suggested more than just Dust delivery to resupply the Legions.

"Well no hurry coming back," Nox chimed as took a sip from his glass. "Check for me if the Palace is still standing. If it is not, take a picture and send it for me," He chuckled with mirth.

"So is Orchic not coming with you?" Sangur asked like he was hoping the queer would fuck off from Beacon for a while.

"No, I will be remaining here," Orchid declared while buttering his bread with grace that was strangely hypnotic. Nox would not have eaten that defiled piece of toast for any price. "This place is great, much less dreary and gloomy then the catacombs of the Palace. You can get so much more stuff to inject into yourself here in Vale."

Sangur grunted with disappointment. He was about to return to his cereal, but then raised his gaze again. "Wait, if Azuhrius is going to leave, who is the team leader of ASON while he is gone?"

Not like any of them had cared about it while Azuhrius was around, but now when the leadership position would be open, Nox felt strange pull towards it.

""Me of course,"" Nox and Orchid said in unison before turning to glare at one another.

"That is exactly what I wanted to discuss back at the dorms," Azuhrius said as he turned on his heels away from the table. "Try to get going, Team JNPR is probably already waiting for us."

"No Team JNPR, no," Nox crumbled miserably. "I can't stand those guys."

"You can't stand anybody," Azuhrius noted.

"Yes I can," Nox replied defiantly.

"Like who?"

"That guy."

"Who is that?"

Nox shrugged. "Some guy called Mercury. Quite decent guy," he answered as he watched the said silver haired boy walk between the tables of the dining hall. The was just something in the way he walked. Then his brows lowered as something Azuhrius had said hit him.

"Wait a minute…" Nox said as he spun around to face Azuhrius. "What the hell has Team JNPR to do with anything?"

* * *

"What are these two doing here?" Nox growled as Ren and Jaune stood in the center of Team ASON's dorm room, other stoeckly, other half awkwardly and half scaredly. Other half of the Team JNPR was standing outside by the open door, peeking inside with one of the hammer held in readiness. Nox had adamantly refused to let them in as he did not want to get in hammer's reach of Nora, and he considered Pyrrha otherwise dangerous. Yesterdays match between her and Team CRDL might have had something to do with it.

Azuhrius did not answer Nox's question. He had arranged the other five boys in the room into a row, the order being from left to right: Orchid, Nox, Sangur, Ren and finally Jaune. He took a step forward and addressed them all. What he was about to do was necessary for there to be a team for him to return to after his journey.

"As some of you know, I will be leaving for few days and won't be here to lead Team ASON for a while. That is why I have summoned you here, so I may appoint an Acting Leader of the Team ASON who will lead in my absence."

"This is some really theatrical shit we are having right now," Nox muttered with glaring black eyes.

Azuhrius ignored Nox again and beheld Orchid with his gaze. He needed to do this with right words to right people "Orchid, you are valued and dependent comrade of mine, but I can't leave the team in your hands. The leadership position requires much work, and I know you are busy with many other things. I also fail to see how these two-" he nodded at Nox and Sangur. "Would see the value of your leadership. Try to stay strong while I am gone." I am also afraid what I would be returning into if I left you in charge.

Orchid nodded with understanding expression that was welcome to Azuhrius. "I understand, come back soon."

Azuhrius pushed his right hand forward, Orchid reciprocating the gesture, and they grabbed each other's hands wrist to wrist in an old Legion tradition. Then Azuhrius stepped forward to stand in front of the next person in line who was eyeing him suspiciously.

"Nox, there is almost no one I trust less than you, and I would rather leave the team in anyone's hands except yours. Try not to usher the team/school into civil war while I am gone."

"I am hurt, truly", Nox replied sarcastically.

Azuhrius moved on, this time finding himself in front of Sangur and gazing up into his red eyes. Right words for right people. "Sangur, you are violent, brutal, unpredictable, uncontrollable, socially challenged person who's emotional scale is extremely limited. Your answer to every problem at hand would almost certainly involve either your axe, or your other axe."

Sangur formed an expression that resembled a smile. "Thanks," he said.

"I also know you would never stab me in the back, which makes you by default one of the most trustworthy people I know," Azuhrius continued. "But because you are busy during the weekends with you important trips to Forever Fall, you do worthy job there might I say, and could not be here for the leadership duties, I can't leave you in charge while I am gone."

Sangur grunted in acknowledgement, looked away and waved his hand like he had never been interested of the leadership to begin with.

With three members of his team done, Azuhrius moved on. The black haired boy in front of him looked at him with a barely detectable surprise at the nature of the meeting taking place in the room.

"Ren, often I feel like you are the only other man of sense in this dorm building, sometimes even in this school. You would otherwise be an auto-pick for the position of Acting Leader, but you are a really good friend of both Nora and Jaune. I can't put a man in charge who listens to Nora and Jaune."

Ren nodded. "I understand."

"Hey!" Jaune exclaimed next to Ren.

Now finally Azuhrius reached the end of the line and he walked to beheld Jaune in front of him. The Blonde haired boy watched him with uncertainty in his eyes.

"Jaune, you might not be the beast fighter, or the smartest person, or the greatest leader around," Azuhirus stated while staring at Jaune intently.

"But, because all the others before you in the line were all so terribly unfit, I will leave the job to you. Rule wisely, Acting Leader Jaune." Azuhrius gripped Jaune's Shoulder for a moment. "Farewell," he said, before calmly marching out of the dorm room of team ASON and heading for the aircraft landing area, leaving the room behind into complete silence.

Nox was the only one that followed after him. The metal clicking of hurrying augmetic legs followed after Azuhiurs from the room and reached him in a moment. "What the hell was that?!" Nox asked while motioning to back at the open door of the dorm room. He sounded more shocked than angry.

"I just appointed someone to lead the team while I am gone," Azuhrius simply explained to Nox who was still slightly shaking from the shock.

Nox was quiet for a moment as if he did not know what to say as he followed Azuhrius, taking glances backwards where they had come from. "He is going to be bad for the team's K/D ration," Nox finally muttered.

"I going to be gone only for the rest of the week, you won't be leaving the academy to do anything dangerous in the meantime," Azuhrius stated as he turned the corner.

"He is going to be bad for the team's K/D ration…" Nox said again.

* * *

"Why did you make Arc your replacement while you are gone?" Kaltrina asked as she and Azuhius walked the streets of Vale, on route to the hideout where they were keeping dust from the dock mission. Azuhrius was eating from a case of pudding, one of many packages that he had acquired from somewhere as a journey food. Kaltrina was pretty sure their original owner would not need them.

"Because I don't think I am capable of convincing my teammates not to fall on each other while I am gone," Azuhrius replied with one arm holding a pudding case, one holding a spoon to his mouth. "And if you can't convince them, confuse them," He declared lightly. "We all have to make sacrifices for the continued existence of Team ASON and peace at Beacon Academy. Jaune will sacrifice his safety and possibly his well being, and I will sacrifice-" Azuhrius made a short pause. "Him."

* * *

 **That was a pretty long chapter. After this we will finally, FINALLY be getting to Terra with Azuhrius, where at long last we will be meeting some new characters with Legion blood in their veins. Yes, we will finally get to see other Venatore Legionnaires. I know they have been waited very eagerly by some people. Almost as much as XI Astartes from Darkerpaths.**

 **But it might be a while before you guys get to read the next chapter. I am becoming very busy very soon, so I don't know if I will be able to focus on writing for a while. At least the rest of this month I am going to be extremely occupied. I am uncertain how much time I have for writing after that, could be some, could be none, don't know yet. Just heads up I might not be posting chapters for a while. Or reviewing stories, Darkerpaths and Gasmask. I promise my reviews will come, but they might come extremely late, so don't wait for them.**

 **So, until we meet again.**

 **Leave a review, if you feel it in your heart, and have a nice day.**


	24. Chapter 23

**Hello again. Been a long time hasn't it since I updated. I am so damn busy, and I will be for while longer.**

 **But I still managed to get this longest chapter of Chaos is the Prize so far done, just in time for the one year anniversary of the story. I can't be believe it has been a year, look just how far we have come. 24 chapters, over 100 000 words, and we are far from finished. I would make a rough estimation there is at least another that many chapters before the end. But RWBY is going forward, and does not look like stopping. And as long as there is RWBY, there will be Chaos is the Prize in some form, that is my vision.**

 **Now we finally get a glimpse at Terra, and some new Legionnaires. I hope you like them or like to hate them.**

 **BTW, Games workshop had a Deathwatch release some time ago. I assure the new Deathwatch Venator Kill teams have no relation to this story.**

* * *

 **Chaos is the Prize Chapter 23**

Nox was laying on his bed with arms crossed behind his back, and Orchid was reading that fancy purple book of his. Meanwhile Sangur was just randomly tossing his axe into the air before catching it as it fell down.

None of them had decided to leave for class since the others were not going. Sangur had noticed that this morning he just hadn't had the energy to go to class. It was his first time, usually he bothered to attend, even if more than half the time he just ignored what was being taught (it was really hard to concentrate with constant pain in your head, who would have though). It was strange how Azuhrius' departure had instantly caused a loss in morale and vitality.

It was at that moment that a knock was heard on the door.

"Come in," Sangur heard Nox bark. "Unless it is Ruby."

The door opened carefully and the head of a blond haired boy peeked in. He took in the room with his gaze before opening his mouth with caution. "Eh, sorry to bother you guys," the pathetic Acting Leader of Team ASON muttered from the door frame. "But what are you doing here?"

Sangur could not understand why Azuhrius had elevated someone so unworthy into the leader of the squad… no, the _team_ , team was the word. There alway needed to be some sort of a leader, that was the way of the Legions, but surely anyone would have been better alternative to that weakling. It was only a matter of time before someone rose to claim the leadership for themselves. Sangur was not interested in being a leader of anything, but even he felt the urge to take the leadership from hands that weak.

"The classes have not started yet," Nox grunted with a wave of his hand.

Jaune cleared his throat. "It is 12 o'clock…" he pointed out.

"Well in that case it is the lunch break!" Nox exclaimed as he jumped down from his bed in one great leap and landed in front of Jaune who quite visibly fliched.

Nox eye the blond for a second."Hated you from Hello. Get out of my way, _Acting Leader_ " Nox spat at Jaune. "Or I will feed you to Sangur."

The tall and rough looking boy in question stopped flipping his axes and turned his gaze to the door.

Jaune glanced nervously at Sangur with a hesitant smile. "He does not eat people, does he?" he muttered with not so convinced voice while quickly stepping aside from Nox's way.

"He is not a picky Eater, Acting Leader" Nox chuckled as he marched out of the door.

Orchid followed after him, glancing at Jaune as he passed the door frame. "It all ran better under Azuhrius…" was all he said before going after Nox.

Jaune turned his gaze to the last occupant of the room beside himself. Sangur was standing by his bed, holding his axes loosely in his hands. "I think I am going to skip the launch. There are no cornflakes there anyway," He grunted. "I am just going to sit in the corner right there," he nodded at one of the empty corners of the dorm room. "With my back against the room". He turned and stared at Jaune with his red eyes. "Don't try to attack me while my back is turned, or I will kill you."

"The thought would never even crossed my mind…" Jaune laughed nervously.

Sangur tossed his axes onto his bed. "I am going to leave my weapons right here, out of my reach…"

"Are you telling me to attack you or not?" Jaune asked, unsure what was going on.

"I am telling you to attack me and die," Sangur explained.

* * *

Jaune looked like he had it rough when Aureolin saw him enter the cafeteria, some steps behind leaderless team ASON. The leader of Team JNPR was looking a bit like that time when Cardin was constantly picking on him. It must have been because of Team ASON, and Auroling could understand. Their company was rather awkward and draining. And a bit scary, if Aureolin was totally honest with himself.

"So what is the reason you are suddenly hanging with team ASON?" Aureolin asked from Jaune as he and the team in question sat down into the long tables of the dining hall. Jaune was sitting with his own team, near the trio of Team ASON, but still a fair distance away. Maybe he did not dare to sit closer. Aureolin was sitting and chatting with him and JNPR since his own team had not arrived yet.

"Well… I don't really understand it, but Azuhrius put me in charge of his team before he left this morning…" Jaune explained. "I am the AL of Team ASON until he comes back, apparently. He did not exactly inform or warn me beforehand about this."

Aureolin frowned "AL of Team ASON?" he asked. "The L is for "Leader", right? What does the A stands for?"

"Artificial," Sangur grunted from a short distance away, like everyone should know it.

"Abysmal," smeared Nox as he took a sip from his glass.

"It stands for "Acting"," Jaune explained after a worried glance at the trio. "I am Acting Leader for at least the rest of this week."

"Really? Tough luck," Aureolin replied compassionately.

"I know…" Jaune whined as he held his head with his hands. He looked like he did not know how he would pull through that time.

"Is that even permitted, really?" Aureolin asked. "Is it possible to make someone from another team your temporary replacement? What does the school say about this? How did Azuhrius arrange that?"

"Well, it not an official thing or anything like that," Pyrrha mentioned from next to Jaune, eyeing the blond with worried expression.

"Yeah, it is just something Azuhrius called formality or something like that," Ren continued. "He left a note where he asked Jaune to just check on team ASON every now and then. Jaune does not actually have to really do anything with them, just stop by their dorm room occasionally. And, most importantly apparently, be the leader in name only."

"Don't worry Jaune, we'll avenge you if you never come back from one of those trips!" Nora comforted cheerily him while patting his back.

Jaune looked so grateful that his team was there for him during this age of darkness.

"Not sure why Azuhrius would want something like this, but he must have his reasons. That nomination event this morning was quite elaborate," Ren said in his usual deadpan way.

"Well, maybe he just wants someone to keep an eye on his team while he is gone," Aureolin offered. "I mean, come on, you know how his team can be sometimes." He said with a bit hushed tone, sparing a quick glance at the mentioned team sitting not too far from them.

"They can be a bit… difficult to work with sometimes," Pyrrha said with a hesitant tone.

"If you are putting lightly," Aureolin replied. "Have I told about the this one time I talked with Nox? It was not too long time ago. I just trying to make small talk as we waited for the class to start or something, and I mentioned how nice the sun and summer were. Nox responded to that by saying that summer fucking sucks and the significance of the sun to Remnant's life has been greatly exaggerated."

Aureolin glanced nervously at the remaining Team ASON again, but he sighed in relief when he saw that they had left the dining hall at some point and were nowhere to be found. They had probably just grabbed food to eat on the go.

Jaune noticed this and groaned. "They already missed the morning class. I am just going to remind them not to forget to attend to the rest of today classes." He rose to his feet and picked up his tray.

Aureolin looked at him with admiring eyes. "Jaune, I never noticed what a cast-iron man you are."

"Isn't he, right?!" Pyrrha exclaimed with a smile.

Jaune did not pay mind to their words, it felt like he was thinking they were just saying them to make him feel better. "I just don't want to be the one to tell Azuhrius I did not even try to get his team to attend class. He is okay and all, but sometimes I feel slightly creeped out by him…" With those words, Jaune turned in his heels and headed out from the dining hall.

* * *

After the lunch, Team JNPR headed for their dorm room to retrieve some school equipment for the next class. Jaune had not yet joined them, and they were wondering where he was.

They waited for their leader in their room, Ren also getting Jaune's stuff ready. After a while, there was a knock on the door, but when Pyrrha opened the door, the blond head behind it belonged to Aureolin rather than their dear leader.

"Um, I don't know if you guys have noticed this, but there is a message attached to you door," he said while motioning at the door.

The three members of team JNPR scrambled out through the doorframe, and there Ren discovered there was indeed an ominous looking piece of paper on the outside of their door. He brought his face closer to read it. " _We have the leader of your team. We want 200 pancakes and all the syrup you have in exchange from him. They must be ready to be picked up within 48 hours from your room, or you will never see your leader again.":_ it read in scribbly handwriting _._

Nora cried out in outrage and Pyrrha brought her hands to her mouth along a distressed inhalation.

Ren only sighed and checked the clock from his scroll to see how much time had passed since Azuhrius' departure.

 _Well, it sure took a long time for something like this to happen…_

He filed his smart device away.

 _Almost four hours..._

* * *

Azuhrius was standing alone and gazing at an ancient battlefield. The ruins stretched out as far as his eyes could see. Everywhere where he turned his vision there were broken buildings, cast down monuments of man, and craters and mountains of rubble of monstrous scale. It was an pinnacle of civilization turned to wasteland, and giant wrecked architectural corpse of a long lost age of glory and might. There had never been another place of such magnitude and power, and there would never be again.

This was not merely a dead city or even a Kingdom, such lesser names failed to adequately represent what surrounded Azuhrius. This was what had once been an Empire. This place was Terra.

Azuhrius had arrived to the continent with a boat and made his way from there on with a stolen motorcycle. The small vehicle he had hidden away as he reached the ruins, continuing from there on foot.

The dry wind blew through the razed streets as Azuhrius made his way through the fallen heart of the Imperium. His gaze found evermore new destruction, most dating back to the Siege, some more recent that the Grimm had caused with their picking of the Empire's bones.

The ruins were crawling with the black soulless beasts, most of them mere Beowolves stalking the streets in scattered pack or lone hunters. Its surface was ever filled with the dark creatures, and it was not the first time Azuhrius felt like they had been especially sent to guard what lay beneath the surface.

 _The Xeno dream is to dance on the tomb of the mankind..._

The Grimm were drawn to the negative emotions of mortals. Hate, anger, fear and despair were like calling music to them. But they could not sense the emotional echoes radiating from the catacombs below their feet, they could not locate or pinpoint the source of the hate, anger and pain. They must have felt something, but the majority of the emotional echoes of the Warp were devoured by the Empyrean's own monsters. The Neverborn lurking behind the veil of reality of this place were not letting their soulless enemies have anything else but the slightest taste of their feeding source.

As Azuhrius' activated his Semblance again to remain hidden from a nearby stalking Beowolf, his mouth formed a thoughtful grin as he watched the beast. It's red eyes glowed as it glanced around, perhaps sensing him but unable to find him.

The Grimm and the Deamons. They were so similar in many aspects. Yet they were almost total opposites. They both fed on the suffering of humans, and on a larger scale they fed on the whole mankind. They were both creatures of darkness, eagerly searching for a way to wet their claws in the blood of the humanity.

But the Grimm were an inhuman force of the materium, soulless predators of dark but most certainly at least some way of the natural world, in their own mysterious way. They were cold beings of this world that had birthed and shaped them. They were rivals of humanity, laying claim to the same Remnant.

The Deamons were a very human force. They were not rivals of humanity. The Warp was not some vaguely connected otherworldly realm that simply existed as a separate plane of existence from where the neverborn poured into the reality. The Warp was not an inhuman thing at all.

 _It is us._

There was nothing in the warp but the humanity. The Warp was a reflection of what the humanity projected into it. Every thought and every emotion any human ever had and would ever have formed the tides of the Great Ocean. The Deamons were very creations of human emotions and psyche, beings given shape and sense by human dreams, hopes, fears, disgusts and desires. The Gods and their children exist because humans have given birth to them.

 _They are our hate, our anger, our cruelty, our greed, our vileness, our iniquity._

Deamons were an inseparable part of humanity, and they would always be, laying there and punishing this species with their mere existence, neither beings unable to exist without the other.

Azuhrius walked for hours, for the scale of the ruined capital was unrivaled by anything built by man in any other corner of of Remnant. He came across more broken structure than there were unbroken ones in any single of the four Kingdoms. There were also remains of great warmachines from the time of the Siege, though all of them had long since picked clean of anything even remotely valuable, some by Legionnaires, some by the Grimm.

The whole battlefield of the greatest battle ever fought was likewise licked clean of anything resembling weaponry or equipment. The Legions had spend years cleaning the place of anything resembling armaments as the quality of their equipment was eroded by time and strife. There were no easily achievable treasure lying anywhere on Terra anymore. There were still almost certainly weapons and equipment hidden in dark corners of the fallen capital, locked away in deeply hidden vaults or buried under unimaginable piles of rubble and wreckage. Hidden treasure worth dying for, and certainly, many had died in search of them.

The Grimm were constantly waiting for anyone foolish enough to wander on the surface, or the collapsed open parts of the catacombs and the dangerous tunnel networks running under the ruins. They were also always trying to find a way inside, trying to reach the remnants of the Legions that they knew were hiding somewhere deep in the catacombs. They had found a way in many times, and it always resulted in great carnage, spilling of both the foul blood of the xenos as well as the precious blood of the elevated Legionnaires.

The ground here was soaked in Venatore blood. It had begun with the Siege of Terra an age ago, and it had never stopped. The number of Legionnaires had thinned over the decades, their blood claimed by the thirsty ground by infighting, warp corruption and the constant struggle against the Grimm. The was so very little left of the mighty armies of the long dead Empire, there were only broken and tainted warriors among the desolate ruins, and the restless soulless monsters that might one day devour them all.

After long and monotonous trip across the desolate landscape, without him coming to blows with even a single Grimm thanks to his Semblance, Azuhrius finally arrived to his destination. There was a giant fissure on the ground, a downwards leading gorge that lead below the surface. Azuhrius headed down along the path that was descending below the surface of the ground, making his way deeper and deeper.

His gaze lingered along the rocky walls of the gorge, observing the numerous demonic gargoyle like statues that hung above on his both side. Their cold but strange malevolent eyes seemed to follow his journey downwards, as if guardians inspecting a traveler that was passing through their territory.

Azuhrius paid them little mind. Only the Grimm and the other intruders had any reason to fear the dreadful visages, and he passed under their gaze unmolested and undisturbed.

At the end of the great ravine was a door, crafted from cold stone with no regard for anything but it's simple purpose. On its surface was however more ornately crafted eight pointed star, that was gouged into the stone and painted with dried dark red liquid.

Azuhirus picked up a sturdy metal bar from the ground next to the door. Touching the door with his hands would have been a grave mistake, the cursed stone was yet another obstacle to repel intruders who were not aware of the consequences of touching it.

Azuhrius directed the cold rod to the door and then pushed from a safe distance away. The blocky door opened with abnormal ease considering it's size and weight. After it was wide open, Azuhrius dropped the rod and marched through the door, feeling a faint chill the moment he passed the ruinous depiction of the star. There was another rod on the other side, and he used it to close the door just as easily as he had opened it. Then he headed deeper into the catacombs, the narrow stone corridor lit with torches echoing with his steps. He walked for handful of minutes before the narrow pathway ended into a far larger and architecturally far more refined corridor.

There was a distinctive gothic style on the walls that were finely built, not only of rock but metal aswell, even if they were corroded by time and lack of renovation. They had totally different feeling to them than the smaller corridor Azuhrius had just arrived from, much more majestic, fit for the basement of the largest building complex ever built.

Azuhrius allowed himself a moment of pause as he breathed in the familiar stale air of closest thing he had for home, before continuing deeper into the catacombs of the Imperial Palace.

It took a some time before the Legionary of the XXth legion reached the areas where the first signs of life started to appear. He passed doors and corridors that had been obviously used recently. The place was massive maze of chambers and corridors of all kinds, and as he moved ever onwards, they looked more and more like someone actually used them for something. The dust was disturbed by recent footfalls, lighting was much better and provided by more than mere simple torches on the walls. There were candles and eventually a few rag tag lumen lights here and there. Some open doors revealed rooms with furniture or storage containers for all kinds of items.

And eventually it was possible to hear faint voices echoing from ahead of Azuhrius. They grew more audible as he walked, and soon he was able to form an idea of their origins. They were voiced caused by young throats, their higher childlike pitch quite clear. _Neophytes then._ He headed towards the voices.

His eyes caught a glimpse of a couple of small shapes that ran across an intersection of corridors ahead of him. He did not have the time to pick out anything from them before the figures disappeared from his sight, letting out a few unrecognisable yells.

The young aspirants who had been implanted with Legion geneseed but had not yet matured into full Venatores were nowadays more numerous than the fully elevated Legionnaires, as the life expectancy of Legionnaires was extremely short. None of the warriors from the great Heresy yet lived, at least on this side of the reality. Mature Venatores were rare, some Legions not even possessing any of them. New recruitments were added into the Venatore "family" every few years, and by that time the oldest generation of that time had usually died out almost completely. Some were taken by the Grimm, some by the ever present squabbling among the cousin Legions.

The Legions of this age were very small, none of them possessing more than half a dozen Venatores, most not even that. Constant strife and lack of resources did not allow great numbers to be recruited at once, even when there was no shortage of geneseed, so the growth was extremely slow. And if one of the Legions managed to outgrow the others by too great of a margin, others usually teamed up and pummeled the most numerous one back into dirt along the rest of them. And when Legionnaires got older, so did their ambition, their greed, their need for war, and their taint. When they were no longer satisfied with the pointless seeming struggle against the Grimm, and there seemed not to be no proper war in sight for them to vent out, they usually turned upon one another. That had occurred so many times during the years, and the not so rare breaches by the Grimm helped to keep the number of Legionnaires low, and their age expectancy even lower. The tensions raised, and all it needed was someone losing their patience to light the fire. Of Azuhrius' generation of recruits, less than half remained, and there was only a single Legionnaire alive from an older batch.

The constant paranoid infighting had reduced the numbers from the thousands of the years of the Crusade to a pitiful fraction of what once was. The years had not been kind to the Legions. But it would change if Azuhrius could do anything about it.

Azuhrius rounded a corner, expecting to see maybe a pair of Neophytes, it was not rare to see them roaming around the catacombs while not training for combat. But as the view to the new corridor opened before him, Azuhrius found himself staring two full grown members of the Legions as old as him.

The two were standing some meters ahead, coming to a halt at the top of small staircases and looking down at Azuhrius who was looking slightly upwards at the foot of the stairs. They looked a bit surprised to see him, they had clearly not expected to see him then and there. Just the way Azuhrius liked it. The less they knew about his movements, the better.

"I did not expect to see you back so soon..." one of them said with narrowed eyes after a while, faintly hefting the largest axe Azuhrius had ever seen that was resting against his shoulder guard.

The two recovered from their short moment of surprise from seeing Azuhrius and started calmly making their way down the stairs toward him.

The one who had spoken was wearing a clear blue coat like uniform and simple gray pants, his chest decorated by not one but two reverse omega Ultima symbol badges. There was a third one on his finely crafted buckle of his pouched equipment belt, like there could never have been enough icons of his smug Legion. On his shoulders there were curving shoulder guards of polished gold, against which his massive weapon rested over his shoulder. His well cut hair framed the patrician features of his face and the sharp gray eyes that were firmly locked onto Azuhrius. His weapon was a massive axe, fairly similar in size to the Ruby Rose's scythe, that he had claimed from a corpse of a Huntsman in training from Vacuo's Academy some years ago. It was one of the few transforming weapons around Terra.

Azuhrius could feel the Legionnaire in his blue uniform was not pleased to see him, and the feeling was mutual.

The other Venatore beside the axe wielding one did not look at him with as much restrained hostility. The Venatore was dressed in brown clothes, a piece of gray half cloak with the picture of the eight pointed star hanging over his left shoulder. He had a red breastplate and shoulder guards trimmed with gold, as well as fine wrist guards of the same metal, all inscribed with Colchisian runes. There was some red robe hanging from his belt, and in his arms he had two things: A large spiked maul of black metal in his left one, an old and worn relic of an ancient time, some of the spikes broken. In his right hand he was holding a book with finely crafted leather covers of human skin and gold cornering. His head was shaved, and his golden eyes regarded Azuhrius with curious gaze as he formed a faint polite smile without warmth.

One of the two Legionnaires was a devious, power hungry zealot who blindly and devotedly followed teachings from a twisted book of madness written by his foolish and long dead gene father. The other was a Bearer of the Word.

"It is good to check how things are going back here once in awhile," Azuhrius replied with neutral tone and cold eyes.

"You know, I traded some letters with Orchid a while ago when some of us asked him to visit a certain local bookstore in the central Kingdom," the axe wielder spoke with a calm and slightly arrogant tone as he stopped a safe distance away from Azuhrius. "I heard you have been busy in that huntsman academy of Vale", Smurfus Gladius continued while absently fingering the grip of his axe, which was called Chopdakka. It could actually transform from a giant fucking axe into a giant fucking machine gun. Maybe not a balanced weapon, like those prefered by the XIIIth Legion, but the time when Venatores could afford to be picky about their weapons was long past. Nowadays you just claimed the best things you could and held on to them with teeth and nails.

"Also heard you found some very interesting _teammates-,"_ Smurfus tasted the word for a moment, as if not sure if it tasted bad in his mouth. Azuhrius had seen same kind of unfamiliar and testing reaction to the word when other members of the team ASON used it for the first few times. Sometimes they still made the mistake between a "team" and a "squad".

"-from there when you _infiltrated,"_ now his tone held distaste " _,_ into the academy. Two legionnaires, from VIIIth and XIIth Legions if I remember correctly..." Smurfus took a small, purposeful and pregnant pause. "Strange that you failed to remember to mention of their existence to us. Or was it your brother who failed to convey this information forward? He has been quite vague about what you have been up to while gone."

"What I have been up to is hardly your business, Smurfus," Azuhrius simply replied. He had no need to tell Smurfus anything, they were not allies, far from it. "You did not support my infiltration plan, don't start demanding information or anything else now."

Smurfus' face twisted a bit, changing away from the calm and condescending demeanor into hard and cold hostility, eyeing Azuhrius with competful gray eyes. He let out a small snarl, but did little else. Smurfus was not the aggressive type, he did not let simple words get to him most of the time, an ability that was not that common among other Venatores residing in the catacombs of Terra.

"The Legionnaires," the shaved headed XVIIth Legion gene son spoke with much less hostility as he observed Azuhrius with his golden eyes. "Are they returning back to Terra?"

Azuhrius turned to him, happily shifting his focus from the blue and gold clad warrior. Smurfus had always been sort of a nemesis of Azuhrius here on Terra, he was a head of his own small faction while was Azuhrius was of another. For this reason there was always a tension between them, and they could never consider each other more than allies of convenience at best, and dangerous rivals rest of the time. But Maroos Diabolus of the Bearers was at good terms almost with everybody on Terra, and it could be almost said he cared for the combined state of the Legions. Almost.

"No, they have made quite clear they have no intention of involving themselves with Terra. They have left this place behind. Or that is at least what Nox says and maybe even believes," Azuhrius told the other Legionnaire. If the existence of his two teammates had become public knowledge, there was little reason not to be (moderately) open about them.

Maroos nodded in acknowledgement without his expression changing. The book in his hand was firmly pressed against his chest plate, but the _holy_ crozius in his other hand moved back and forth, as if he was trying to draw shapes into the dusty floor beneath with simply pointing with his maul. The weapon was named Cru Sader, and it was the best that the XVIIth had left as a sacred weapon for their Apostle leaders. It was not old enough to date it's forging back to the days of the Heresy, nor did it poses any technological qualities like power fields, but to the zealots of the XVIIth, it was a holy mark of office. Maroos was it's current b(/B?)earer, which made him the leader of his Legion and the closest thing they had for an Apostle. He did not flaunt the title nor demanded to be called by it by others, which was quite appropriate considering how small and weak his Legion was, but Azuhrius knew his brothers still called him reverently Apostle. The use of titles was rare among the remaining legionnaires of the Legions purely because there were so few Venatores remaining. He may have been a weak excuse for the position when measured against the ancient holders of the title, but then again, the current Legions had very low standards in everything. How the mighty have fallen.

"Shame." Maroos said, and actually managed to sound like he meant it, even if it was only because he was a firm believer in the Undivided. "Their assistance would have been a great help for Terra. Especially since we have no mature VIIIth or XIIth left."

"We have no XIIth Neophytes left either," Smurfus reminded saltily.

"No we don't. Let us pray the next recruitment batch will fix that," Maroos said before planting a kiss against the covers of the Book of Lorgar he was holding.

Both Azuhrius and Smufus remained silent for a moment, not wishing to take part in Maroos' religious mumbling. Smurfus fixed his eye deep into Aziuhrius', like he was trying to fish out the secrets with only his stare. "What are you up to in Vale, Azuhrius," he growled silently.

"Wouldn't you like to know. It is all for the benefit of the Legions," Azuhrius replied stoically. "I will be sure to tell you when there is something you can do," he slightly sliced at Smurfus with his words, reminding painfully that the Legionnaire of the XIIIth could do little but sit tight on Terra.

With those words, Azuhrius walked past them and started climbing the stairs. "I have things to take care of, please excuse me," he said as he went. Azuhrius could almost feel the desire of Smurfus to raise his weapon and shoot him in the back. He could, be he would not. Not here, not now, not like that.

Azuhrius made his way deeper into the catacombs, not meeting another soul for a while. The place was vast, and the residents were few. It was only when he reached a vast chamber, holding many doors that lead into the sleeping chambers of the Neophytes, that he came across another living being. But the man was not Neophyte, not even a Legionnaire.

Azuhrius walked across the stained marble floor, his steps waking the attention of the robe clad figure standing by one of the doors. The man turned, staring at him with careful and humble eyes, then bowing his head crowned by lanky black, slightly graying hair.

"My lord," the slave said, keeping his head lowered for respectful moment before rising his purple eyes.

"Porfirio," Azuhrius acknowledge the midle aged man, stopping when he reached arm's length distance from the man.

"It is good to see you back, lord. Has your mission in the central kingdom been fruitful?" the man with worn face asked.

"Yes, so far it has, and I hope it will be even more so in the future," Azuhrius said without looking at the man, gazing around him at the vast chamber. It had been quite some time when he himself had been here as a Neophyte, the feeling of nostalgia was palpable.

"Glad to hear, lord. That shipment of Dust you sent to us has been extremely useful."

"Good. I have more coming when the cargo shipping situation between Kingdoms allows it."

"Understood, lord, we will be ready to receive it."

Porfirio was a good slave. There were so few slaves remaining in Terra, even fewer than Legionnaires, so they were a very valuable commodity. That was why they were all so much older than the Venatores. Acquiring new slaves had proven incredibly hard over the years, they usually were not able to adapt to their new situation, so they commonly either went insane, tried to escape, to kill their masters or themselves. The kidnapped people of other Kingdoms were just poor slave material. The Legions just were not capable of inducting new servants currently, with the exception of the XVIIth, who had sometimes some luck, and the XXth, who were able to train operatives if they were able to start their conditioning from a young age. But operatives were of course completely different from slaves, and the XXth were not sharing the fruits of their hard work with others.

Azuhrius found his gaze lingering on the many doors of the chamber, scattered around the space without order or theme. There were Legion symbols painted on them, reflecting which Legion's Neophytes resided behind them, mimicking the tombs of the Progenitors many floors beneath, except the doors were much more scattered around and in no particular order.

Azuhrius quickly found the door with a Hyrda painted on it, half hidden in one of the corners of the unsymmetrical chamber. He should drop by there before he returned to Beacon.

There were twenty Legion marked doors surrounding Azuhrius, as well as some additional empty rooms used for whatever purpose the time demanded. One of the rooms was without occupants, that Legions currently suffering from having no Neophytes at all, the XIIth. Sangur was currently the only World Eater upon the world of Remnant.

Then there were Legions with Neophytes, but no mature Legionnaires. Those Neophytes had to find a way to maturity without support from an older generation that had already died off. The VIth, IXth, Xth, XVIth and XVIII were currently in that situation. Because of particularly two of them being without mature Legionaires, it was no wonder the Legions suffered from the lack of technological proficiency. One thing they all agreed that should be fixed during the next recruitment batch.

And then there were two doors that did not house Neophytes, and they never would. Azuhrius walked in though in front of one of them, staring at the faded symbol of the never opened door. The XIth and XVth were gone, wiped out during the Heresy, and there was no way to get a hand on their Geneseed. They were completely extinct, at least on this side of the veil, and their doors were ever present reminders to the rest of the Legions of how close they were to the annihilation.

"My lord?" Porfirio asked and Azuhrius realized he had spaced out for a moment. It was a rare occurrence for him.

"Have the numbers of Neophytes changed while I was gone?" Azuhrius asked, meaning had they decreased. The numbers were ever diminishing, and Azuhrius was so far up to speed he knew the two Neophytes from his own Legion were still alive, but he was less informed about the others from the time of several last months.

"There have been a few lost Neophytes recently, three if I remember correctly," Porfirio answered. "Or two actually, I believe one is in the Apothecarium for what reason I cannot say, but I heard it is not looking good."

Azuhrius nodded. "And the other two?"

"One of the XVIIth was allegedly killed by a Grimm when wandering outside. Fortunately the body was recovered and the Geneseed harvested. And then one of the XIXth had an fatal accident. Of What kind, I do not know, you have to ask the Chief Apothecary."

"I am actually on my way to the Apothecarium right now," Azuhrius retorted as he started moving again, heading for a hallway on the far side of the chamber.

"Very good, my lord," Porfirio muttered with a bow after one of his masters. "I am sure your brother will be happy to see you."

The way to the Apothecarium was not long, it was only half a dozen floors downwards and couple of short corridors away. Azuhrius made the trip without further encounters for a while, if not counting some Neophytes he heard squabbling amongst themselves on some distant hallway. It did not sound like the situation was escalating however, so he paid it no mind and want his way.

The metal door to the Apothecarium was decorated by a finely crafted Prime Helix symbol, symbol of the Apothecarion. He reached for the handle, gripping it firmly and pulling to reveal the stairway leading downwards… and the Legionnaire standing there, with the intention of exiting the door.

The Legionnaire had been just about to push the door open from the other side, so he almost walked into Azuhrius. He stopped and took a step back, before Azuhrius backed away enough for the heavily armored Venatore to rise up from the stair into equal footing with him on the hallway. The door to the Apothecarium closed again, as the two stared at eachother in front of the Helix crest.

"When did you get back?" came a smooth and calm voice of Dunstan Farris from inside the black helmet. He was clad in perhaps the most whole and best preserved armor in all of Terra, the black fullbody knight armor completely hiding him inside it. It was only missing one shoulder guard and a kneepad that had been lost in the long years the armor had served the Ist Legion. There was a deep black visor on his helmet, hiding behind his eyes whose gaze Azuhrius could feel. He had a beige robe covering part of his upper body, starting from his waist and forming a hood around his helmet. Around his waist were multiple pouches, and a long black sword, named Unforgiving, was hanging strapped from the equipment belt. Attached to the plate of his left arm's armor was a wrist mounted bolt weapon, Caliban's Wrath, the only other still practically functional bolt weapon in Terra other than Azuhrius' Stalker. Overall, Dunstan was perhaps the best equipped Legionnaire around, thanks to the first Legion's famous care for their relics. Who knew what else the Knights of Caliban had hidden in their secret vaults. There would a long line next to his corpse to scavenge his equipment the day he died.

"I just arrived, not more than an hour ago," Azuhrius said as he heard a faint click from Dunstan's helmet. The face plate collapsed into smaller parts, sliding back along with the top of helm, not as neatly as weapon technology from other Kingdoms, but still quite cleanly. The headgear vanished behind his neck, and he folded his hood back, revealing a fair skinned face contrasted with short dark brown hair and sharp gray eyes.

"I heard you have enrolled into a Huntsman Academy," Dunstan said with a reservedly inquiring tone. His eyes did not at the moment have the unsavory look he usually looked at Azuhrius with, for he was the proud warrior, while Azuhrius was the sneaky serpent who would cheat and use every trick at his disposal. Maybe he wanted something.

"Yes I have, and I have been busy like you would not believe," Azuhrius replied, not revealing anything.

"Is it preparation for the approaching storm, for the war to come?" Dunstan continued with almost hoarse sounding words, hidden and controlled eagerness in his eye.

"I did not know you believed in the turmoil soon to come," Azuhrius noted. He remembered Dunstan had been quite reserved and sceptical when Maroos had first told all of them about his new visions. The visions that had eventually lead into the formulation of the infiltration plan Azuhrius was currently enacting in Beacon.

"I changed my mind, been talking with Sythonax," Dunstan shrugged, Azuhrius noticing a tiny, almost irrelevant gust in the air at the mention of the Deamon's name. "A war is coming, isn't it," he said with a hint of longing in his voice, his eyes watching dreamingly into nothingness for couple of seconds.

"Yes, yes it is," Azuhrius confirmed. "I have seen the signs in the Kingdoms, it will not be long now."

"Finally," Dunstan said as he fixed his eye back to Azuhrius, who could not have agreed more. "After all these years… The Legions will leave this damned place to make war," though it felt like what he was meaning to say was the first Legion. Azuhrius could see the ambition to lift his Legion from the dust and wreckage in Dunstans eyes.

"Indeed," Azuhrius said as he glanced at the door of the Apothecary. "Is that the reason you were visiting the Apothecarium?" he asked.

Dunstan did not reply to his question, just stared as his helmet re-emerged and constructed itself around his head. "Let me know when you need assistance from the first Legion," his voice said with unusual helpfulness from inside the metal helmet before he turned and started making his way down the dark hallway away from the scene. "And let's play a game of chess at some point when you have the time now that you are here."

Azuhrius watched after the robed and armored back for a moment, before he turned to grab the door of the Apothecarium once more. The way down the stairs was short, leading him into a well lit and sterile chemically smelling (even if it was not) chamber, the walls lined with storage containers, medical apparatuses and other machines, a few movable and worn hospital beds and multiple doors leading into sub chambers of the Apothecarium.

In one of the corners was a rather surprising sight: a small flower pen in which a healthy looking Hydrangea Macrophylla shrub was growing, the Chief Apothecary somehow managing to grow it here in the darkness without any sunlight. It was a mighty plant, Azuhrius' favorite.

Near the center of the room, there was a dissection table, illuminated brightly by a craning lamp placed directly above it. On the metal slab lay a small figure, too small for a mature Legionnaire, so Azuhrius assumed it was a Neophyte. He made his way to the table, confirming his assumption as he laid his eyes upon an unconscious but slightly withering body of a yet to be fully elevated Legionnaire, the runic scripture along his worn brown and gray clothing revealing him to be a bearer of the VIth Legion geneseed. The young boy, around nine years old, did not possess any visible wounds or signs of trauma, so Azuhrius was unsure why the Neophyte was in the Apothecarium. He did not seem to be okay, based on the slight trebling and the visible sweat pearls on his brow.

There was the slam of a door behind him, and he turned on his heels to face the master of the Apothecarium, the self proclaimed Chief Apothecary, and the only Apothecary, of Terra. Who was also Azuhrius' gene brother.

"Oh, you are back," Ceruleon Lernaean spoke up as he closed one of the sub chamber doors behind him, a storage of supplies, with a small canister in his hands. He looked exactly like Azuhrius, their facial features were identical, same blue hair, same inconspicuous features, same green and cunning eyes. He was also clad in a scavenged Atlesian soldier uniform, only slightly different from Azuhrius' around the belt area and the nine dot markings in his breastplate. The greatest difference was the bulky Narthecium in his right wrist, the tool of the Apothecaries, working as both a medical instrument and a weapon.

Behind the identical brother of Azuhrius came another figure, following Ceruleon out of the storage room's door. The frail looking girl dutifully remained at the edge of the chamber, keeping a respectful distance from the reunion of the two Legionnaires. Her name was Miusta, and she was the only XXth Legion operative permanently stationed at Terra. She had long black hair that flowed behind her back, the only operative who kept her hair so long, and she had dark midnight blue eyes. Her pale face had a peaceful smile on it, the expression that Azuhrius had never seen her without. She was physically weakest of the operatives, unsuited for field operations, which was why Ceruleon kept her by his side as his assistant. While not performing a task, she was usually a few paces behind Ceruleon at all times. Azuhrius quickly dismissed his gaze from the girl to face his brother

The only other living mature Legionnaire of the XXth Legion made his way to Azuhrius and the metal slab table, pushing his hand forward and Azuhrius reciprocated, both of them grabbing each other's arms wrist to wrist in a Legion tradition.

"It has been a while, brother," Azuhrius said with a faint smile.

"Yes, yes it has," Ceruleon said as he turned to the Neophyte laying on the dissection table. "How have you been, how is the Huntsman Academy?"

Azuhris had shared all his information with Ceruleon about the place, so there should be little Ceruleon did not know about, but he replied anyway.

"It is a highly undisciplined place, to say the least," Azuhrius mused. "You would not believe the kind of lives people live there."

Ceruleon nodded with a smile as he observed the Neophyte, checking his vitals without looking at Azuhrius. "Discipline leads to victory," he recited the first principle.

"It is victory in war that brings immortality," Azuhrius recited the second principle, enjoying the many meanings of the words. "By the way, I bumped into Dunstan on the way here. What did he want from you?"

Ceruleon snorted quietly. "Trying to up his Legion building like usual. He actually suggested we should have a new recruitment founding very soon, despite the old batch not being mature yet. It was not the first time he has brought such idea to me. Only times he actually speaks with me really. Easy for him to say since his Legion shares the position of largest amount of living Neophytes with XIIth and IVth, as well as exceptional implantation success rate and therefore growth potential."

Azuhrius turned his gaze to the yet matured Legionnaire on the table in front of Ceruleon. "What is wrong with him?" he asked curiously.

"Well, it's probably not lupus," Ceruleon replied with a smirk. "I am pretty sure it is the flawed geneseed of the Wolves," Ceruleon replied as he injected the Neophyte with something, slightly easing the trembles of the unconscious child. "It is already hard to implant, but this recruit seems to suffering from some post implantation defects."

The geneseed of the VIth legion was notoriously difficult, and they were hardly the only ones. The geneseed of the cult legions were same, or maybe even more troublesome. The Legions were not equal in that mater. Some Legions had rather pure geneseed, most prominently the Ist, VIIIth, Xth, XIIIth and XXth. Those Legions had rarely trouble with their genetic heritage, and usually managed to have high number of implantation survivors among recruits, making them usually a bit larger Legions. The three cult Legions, IIIrd, XIIth and XIVth, as well as VIth and arguably XIXth, suffered from their respective problems with implantation, causing them to have lowest chances of successful implantations. It would have required a lot of resources and recruit material to grow their numbers equally to others, and the Legions did not have those things to spare as they had to share everything amongst themselves. Of course, many Venatores could not give a damn about other Legions and would have happily stolen their resources for themselves, but recruitment and implantation was the one sacred and unarguable thing in Terra, enforced by some Legionnaires but mostly by the Demonic representative in charge of keeping an eye out for the Venatores.

"Is he not the only living Neophyte of the VIth?" Azuhrius asked. "Grollo is going to be _displeased_ if he loses the only other Wolf in Terra."

"This is what the Wolves get for being such snowflakes," Ceruleon sighed. "Despite my best efforts, I can't get the Canis Helix to work properly. I have a theory that their Legion would probably need a Wolf Priest to take care of their recruitment, so it is not looking good right now. They might die off for a while soon. I have to try making all the Neophytes of the next batch aspiring Wolf Priests if the Legion ever wished to get on it's feet."

Ceruleon turned. "I had a recently dead Neophyte from XIXth right there a while ago," he said as he nodded at another empty and slightly bloody dissection table close by. "I tried to research his corpse to try figure out what is wrong with this one."

"Was he the victim of the accident?" Azuhrius inquired, remembering Porfirio's words. "Was it really an accident?"

"Yes, it actually seemed to be a case of accident without air quotes, believe it or not. Those things apparently happen too," Ceruleon said as he stared at the empty slab with blood stains. "But I think somebody ate the corpse while I was not here, unfortunately. Might have been Slate, he was back here at Terra just a while ago."

"Does Slate eat things he has not killed himself?" Azuhrius asked, receiving a shrug from Ceruleon.

"Could have been someone else as well, I doubt we'll ever find out. And it does not really matter, I got the geneseed harvested and safely stored." Ceruleon attached some kind of beeping measuring apparatus to the Neophyte's finger, and the backed off, proceeding to take a seat in a very out of place and comfy looking armchair next to the Hydrangea shrub. There was a book on a small table next to the chair, opened downwards covers up. The name printed on the plain covers was _Transit of the Human Soul through Strife,_ and Ceruleon probably read it now and then when he was taking a break.

"So, you sure have been busy in Vale," Ceruleon spoke from the chair as Azuhrius moved to stand closer to him. "The dust you acquired was extremely welcome, but this next thing you have been planning sounds even more beneficial to the Legion. I will start making preparations regarding this matter and the operation."

"So we are in agreement?" Azuhrius asked unnecessarily.

"Aren't we always?" Ceruleon answered with a smile.

* * *

 **So? What do you think. A lot of new stuff here. Over 9000 words when counting the author notes. Some slightly hidden stuff as well, if you can spot them.**

 **You might want to visit my Deviantart page, the Adeptus Venatores picture has been updated with the pictures of the four new Venatores. And then there is the ASON chibi...**

 **So, it would appear we have Legionnaires from the loyalist Legions. Be assured, they are not loyalists. Legions calling themselves loyalist have been wiped out long ago, all that are left are descendants of the ones who embraced the new ways of things.**

 **I you were so kind, I would like to hear your short opinions to each of the four.**

 **Smurfus Gladius, Ultramarine**

 **Maroos Diabolus, Word Bearer**

 **Dunstan Farris, Dark Angel**

 **Ceruleon Lernaean, Alpha Legion**

 **So, until I post again. Please leave a review, if you feel it in your heart, and have a nice day.**


	25. Chapter 24

**I am alive.**

 **It has been such a long time. And I am not talking about the last time I updated, I am talking about the time almost six months ago when I said I would have less time to write than before. So much stuff has happened since.** **I have learned the ways of war in honor of the Blood God. I have schemed and conspired to avoid so much nasty stuff that the Architect of Fate would be proud. I have received the blessings of the Plague Lord and felt his touch upon my skin. And I have endured hardship and suffering worthy of the Dark Prince's approval.**

 **No more. It is all behind. Nevermore. And while I am not truly free quite yet, I hope this moment marks a start of new age of enlightenment and updating. The chapters _should_ be coming a lot faster from this day forward, almost as fast as back on the golden dawn of this fic so long ago when I was pumping out chapters like Eye of Terror pumps out weird shit.**

 **Btw, has anyone of you taken a look at the recent Traitor Legions supplement to the table top game? It has been a long time coming, maybe my Chaos Space Marines can finally win some games. Some very nice Legion relics in that book. Maybe we may see some of them in this story in the future, _*wink wink*_**

* * *

 **Chaos is the Prize Chapter 24**

It was not the only corridor to his destination, but it was his favorite. Maybe even his favorite single corridor in all of the monstrous structure that was the Imperial Palace of Terra. It was just an ordinary corridor, made of gray stone and arching metal grids, not housing any doors along it's length, it's only purpose to cut some time off from travelers. Only thing that made it exceptional was that the cold stone bricks were full of scrambled text, carved into the walls along the decades by Gods knew who. Legionnaires had definitely been on the matter, it was easy to decipher from the contexts of the writing.

The walls resembled the dinerium of the palace the Legionnaires were currently using. One of the eating hall's wall was rather similar, full of writings made by Legionnaires long dead. But that wall was hard to decipher, it was too full, and many of the writing was covered by a single massive " _Death to the False Emperor."_ He preferred this one, it was much less crowded and offered greater treasures.

Ceruleon Learnean pulled to a stop, reaching out to touch the harsh stone of the wall, sweeping a singular piece of lines with his hand. " _We no Longer bear the Word. We bear Lorgar,"_ the carved letters spoke.

Ceruleon loved to read these scriptures, even if he had read them a thousand times over. Some of them had meanings he could not even guess, and some of them were plain and obvious falsehoods and misinformation. Or were they?

A truth was a complicated matter. What was really truth? How could a one know things one had been told about matters that he had not personally witnessed were true? There was evidence, confirmation by multiple sources or the information could be given by a source of absolute trust. But there was always lies. Lies were everywhere. Some them were bold, completely trying to rearrange the truth. Some were subtle, hanging on the heels of truth like parasites, making the truth worthless or twisting it into a parody of what really is or was.

It was said that the first casualty of war was the truth. Wars, _The_ War, had gone on for a long, long time. And The Long War was far from over.

Lies were the bread and wine of the XXth, it's greatest weapon and it's preferred instrument in all things. Ceruleon knew this, and accepted it. But there was a downside of being a masterful liar among a band of masterful liars. There was a downside of being a master of masks and deceit. Because if one were to wear a mask too long, even taking multiple mask and falsehoods over the previous ones and spreading lies all around, the truth was suffocated, hidden too deep for anymore to dig up. And when everyone of your kin around you were the same, and had been for decades before your own existence, the truth was out of reach, lost beyond almost any possibility of reaching. When truth was hidden too well and for too long, it was forgotten.

And then the truth stopped mattering.

Ceruleon was an Alpha Legionnaire. What did he know of the truth?

Ceruleon pushed the thoughts aside, he was loosing the track of himself. He took a few steps, searching with his gaze his favorite piece of writing among hundreds of others. It was rather high on the wall in the middle of the corridor, partly covered by two others: " _Istavan was an inside job,_ " and " _Curze did nothing wrong!"_

It only took a second of observation to make out the lines beneath the two. " _Our Crusade may one day adopt another name, but it will never truly end,"_ it read _._ Such interesting words. Ceruleon wondered what kind of a person had spoken or written those words. And how right they may have been.

He left the corridor behind, making his way down long stairs soon after them. Really long stairs. He was descending deep beneath the ground, deep within the palace's depths. The walls turned to pure, unconstructed rock. Soon it was not anymore torches or lumen bulbs lighting his way. There was a light of vivid, changing colors coming from ahead, dying the rocky walls in his way with haunting spectral shades, like twisted reflections that water might cast. Ceruleon continue forward, going ever deeper. The further he went, the more colors danced alongside him up the walls.

And soon he came to a sudden stop, ceasing his walk on the edge of a cliff where the stone brick of the floor suddenly stopped and gave into a massive cave. And the Eye.

It was impossible the estimate the size of the cave. Only certainty was that it seemed far larger than was physically possible, continuing in every direction, even up where is should have met the rest of the palace and even the surface of Remnant, but it did not.

The cave was filled with what one might call a storm leaking from a wound to hell, if one lacked imagination. It was a maelstrom of impossible propositions, a wormhole into the half reality and half unreality that made it up.

It was called the Eye of Terrar (Yes, Ceruleon was sure the inventor of the name had thought themselves very clever). It had been created during the end of the Siege, and the final stage of the great Heresy. How or why, nobody alive knew. If one were to look into the deep careful enough, one could see a faint golden beacon at the center of the ever changing storm of madness, a singular constant that had once been the center of the whole palace, now engulfed by an eternal Warpstorm.

Stairs led down the side of the cavern on Ceruleon's right side, leading ever downwards and vanishing into the storm somewhere far bellow. Nobody who had ever entered the Eye had come back. Ceruleon however descended them for only a little while, just enough that he could reach a massive platform made of webbing metal grid some way down, the large terrace sticking from the cave's wall offering a see through stage above the Eye.

As Ceruleon reached the point where he could step on to the terrace, he discovered there was a person hunched in the center of the platform, a shape glad in red and gold and brown. Ceruleon walked towards Maroos, who was praying in the unlight of the Eye, like he so very often did.

"Ceruleon" Maroos acknowledged him as Ceruleon stopped a couple of meters behind the Legionnaire of the XVIIth. He must have guessed it was him. Maroos was really good at guessing. Just like Ceruleon.

"Would you mind leaving for a moment. I would have an audience with Sythonax," Ceruleon said, glancing downwards through the metal grid. His gaze did not stay long. It was unwise to look at the Eye for a prolonged time.

"Oh? Is there something you don't wish me to hear?" Maroos asked curiously as he rose to his feet and turned to face Ceruleon with a raised brow.

Ceruleon looked into the golden eyes. "It is a small matter of the XXth, but you know how we like to keep even small things to our self."

Maroos let out a chuckle as he headed for the stairs leading upwards towards the palace without protest. "As you wish," he said without looking back, and soon disappeared from sight, the sounds of his steps disappearing a bit later.

Ceruleon turned his gaze from the stairs. Maybe he would have shouted a call for the Netherkin, maybe he would have acted some Warp ritual to summon the one he was wishing to see, but he did not need to. The instant he turned around, he was no longer the sole occupant of the platform.

The creature was massive, three times the height of Ceruleon, towering over him with it's otherworldly bulk. It was hard to focus one's gaze upon it, it's outlines seemed to blur like they were not fully there, or like there was suddenly something wrong with Ceruleon's sense as he his eyes tried to make sense of what he was seeing.

The creature's exoskeleton like body was made of pale, ghoulish and chitinous looking mass, it's lower feet were black scaled hoofs, and there were massive dark leathers wings folded on it's back. It's two too many joints containing hands were empty, it's long, inhuman claw-less fingers looking somehow frail and strong at the same time. It's rather humanoid and by comparison tiny face looked very out of place in the inward folding socked of it's neck, it's two short horns shooting up from it's white scalp like large knifes. It had a very wide mouth, a row of diamond white gleaming fangs peeking out from it's lip-less maw.

But the most disturbing thing about the creature was its eyes. They were not endless fiery pits to hell, nor black sockets full of darkness or beacons of sorcerous light. They were human eyes, completely ordinary eyes of humanity without a sign of of touch of the Warp. Those very human silver eyes looked so very wrong, so utterly out of place and in discord with reality, in contrast to the rest of the creature's monstrous body.

" _ **You seek my council, young head of the Hydra?"**_ The daemonic prince of of the Empyrean spoke without moving its mouth, the voice a purring gust of wind from the unreal realm. Hearing it made Ceruleon's ears ache, not painfully, just a very annoying itch somewhere barely inside his skull.

"Yep," Ceruleon said to the massive daemon.

Sythonax had once been an Legionnaire of a Legion it did not wish to share, at the time of the Heresy. It was the only of the Ascended one that had returned from the Warp in the days after the Siege, keeping an eye on the Legionnaires in behalf of the Gods by its own words. It was partly its influence that had prevented the Legions from killing each other over the course of the Long War.

" _ **How long has it been since you last came to meet me? How long has it been since you last felt the stare of the Eye upon you? You don't come here to talk to me until there is something you want to know and have no way of learning it yourself."**_

"Does anyone?"

" _ **Yeees. Maroos comes often. Most often of you all. Such a devoted Bearer. You are lucky to have him you know? Him and not some self centered beggar for the power of the Gods. He is more than happy to talk to me about the Gods, about the Legions, about what is and what was. What is to come. That is something that has lately draw quite many of you to seek my council. The future."**_

"You might see how it might interest us little mortal fleshlings most out of the past, the present and the future," Ceruleon said with a smirk.

" _ **Interest you young sons of the Legions it does. You are so eager to get your hands on the sweet fruits of possibilities that the near future will bring within your reach. Dunstan has come often to ask of the future as of late, as has Smurfus. So much more than they used to. Even Tsagaan came to me once to ask of things to come.**_

"What have you told them?"

" _ **Oh?**_ _ **Does the little snake of secrets and lies want hear of the business of others? Did you not just send Maroos way because you did not want your exchange with me to be heard?"**_

"You scare me when you pretend to have any semblance of fairness or consideration."

" _ **You should try sometimes."**_

Ceruleon chuckled. "I am going to Vale," he said. "By brother has plans in there and requires my assistance. But I though while I was there, I could take care of another matter."

" _ **You**_ _**speak of the child,"**_ Sythonax said as a statement rather than as a question.

Ceruleon nodded. Sythonax was a being of the Immatrium, able to read the tidings of the Great Ocean. He knew of the vision granted to Ceruleon.

"Yes," Ceruleon confirmed. "And I need your help with some specifications."

" _ **What do you require?"**_

No demand for a sacrifice, no asking of some unholy favor. The daemon was offering the information willingly. Sythonax was being a suspiciously cooperative daemon prince.

"I require a location of the child," Ceruleon spoke his request.

" _ **You have it",**_ The daemon said , and Ceruleon's mind exploded with unreal sensation. His eyes went blind for a couple of seconds, his ears full of voices he had no business hearing, his veins freezing before catching a flame.

It was all over as suddenly as it had begun. He gasped for breath as he stumbled not to fall. His senses returned to him and he raised his hand to touch his face that was wet with his tears and a blood from his nose.

And he knew the location.

* * *

Jaune felt down. Like, really down.

He was sitting on a bench on the main road between Beacon and the landing pads. He was slumping with his elbows against his knees, gaze held down. He knew he should get ready for the dance, but he did not feel like hurrying, there was plenty of time and nobody was waiting for him anyways.

The sight of Weiss asking Neptune out for the dance had really crushed his party mood. He had not even had the chance to offer her the flower he had gotten for her. It had hurt. It really had hurt. It was still hurting.

Not only emotionally, he could also feel his body aching and his heart devoid of life energy. Who would have thought it could hurt this much. He was just fine with sitting here and wallowing in the sorrow of his existence.

Suddenly he could hear a sound of airship thrusters over in the distance. He glanced up and saw a singular airship emerge from the night and land on the main landing platform of Beacon.

A lone figure stepped out of the ship and the aircraft instantly departed, vanishing into the darkness as suddenly as it had appeared, heading back towards Vale's distant lights.

The figure walked along the road with heavy steps and when he finally reached the bench Jaune was sitting on, he crashed down right alongside Jaune, startling the blonde boy.

"Whoah, where have you been to come back this late at night?" Jaune asked, the sudden appearance of the person next to him making him forget his misery for a second.

Sangur glanced at him, as if only now noticing Jaune was there. For a moment he just stared with bloodshot eyes. "In the thick of slaughter," he finally grunted and looked away.

Sangur certainly looked like he was just out of a fight. His clothes were dirty, covered in dust and small pieces of wood and foliage. His twin axes smelled of smoke and were letting tiny traces of dark vapor into the air.

"You were out fighting?" Jaune asked.

"Like every weekend," Sangur growled. "Forever Fall. Grimm. Killing."

"Ah. Okay." Jaune replied with slight bafflement. He just stared at Sangur before slumping down elbows against knees once again.

The two of them just sat there for a while, Jaune bathing in misery and Sangur resting after a hard night at whatever he had been doing.

"You should kill more. I would get some strength into that sorry body of yours and brighten your spirit." Sangur offered his wise advice after a long while.

Jaune did not answer. For another minute they just remained in silence, before Jaune spoke.

"You know, getting girls is really damn hard."

Sangur looked at him like he had no idea what Jaune was talking about.

"My father said that all women seek in a man is confidence. But my confidence and hard work just did not work. After all of my effort, it just was not good enough for Weiss. I feel so worthless."

The larger boy clad in red and brass next to him shook his head. "That is a stupid trail of thought." he said

Jaune raised his gaze.

Sangur continued. "Never let anyone tell you something like that matters. Having a girl is not a measure of a man," he said with such certainty and conviction that it actually boosted Jaune's spirit.

Sangur was right. Jaune wanted to believe it. And when he wanted to believe it he suddenly found he was certain of it. Yes, he had been rejected. Yes, it had hurt like hell. But it was not the end of the world. What was he actually doing here, sulking in his own misery? He suddenly felt a lot better. Talking to someone had really helped.

"Thank-"

"A measure of a man is how many enemies he has slain in battle!" Sangur went on.

Jaune was taken back a bit, but then chuckled a bit awkwardly but surprisingly serenely.

"I feel a lot better now," Jaune said as he rose up. "Sorry, gotta get going. There is a dance party to attend to."

Sangur only nodded in acknowledgement.

The night was suddenly much less dark than it had been a moment before.

Jaune took first step towards Beacon. "Are you going?" He asked as an afterthought from Sangur.

The rough looking boy shook his head. His left eye was twitching strangely. "Such event is full of Slaaneshi fagotry. It eats at my mind."

Jaune was not exactly sure how to respond to that. "What about you teammates? Are you not joining them?"

Sangur let out a grunt. "Azuhrius has gone back to the Kingdom of the Lost and the Damned. Nox is sleeping. He will not wake before tomorrow. And Azuhrius said something about how he was definitely not allowing Orchid to take part in such an occasion."

"Oh Okay. Well, see you. Thanks for not keeping me hostage anymore by the way."

"The pancakes were nice." Sangur muttered as Jaune started making his way towards Beacon. "We need more..."

* * *

Yes, Azuhrius had told him not to go into the dance.

Would he go anyway? Yes.

Orchid smiled as he made some final arrangements. He would not go to the 'dance', as in taking the dance floor. But he would make an donation to the the music of the night. That was not going to the 'dance', technically, like he was not dancing. He was not totally ignoring Azuhrius' words, right? He was sure someway his logic was sound. Sound, get it? (damn that was good and totally unintended, he thought afterwards)

Ozpin had arranged him a chance to make himself heard tonight. Why did the man say that he had made more mistakes than anyone else in the existence? He was a totally cool headmaster.

Orchid raised the small box from the ground and headed for the door. It was time to make this night unforgettable.

* * *

Nox had expected this. It had happened on most of his weekends at Beacon, more often than not. When he retired for his weekly rest he was always aware most probably a certain highly annoying scythe wielder would make an appearance in his dreams at some point.

But this time was different. Unforeseen, unprecedented, unique.

He was in Beacon. The shattered moon on the sky shone down it's light onto the warm night of the school. In all previous dreams with him and Ruby, they were in his ghost memories of Terra. Somewhere in it's dark corridors or the deep catacombs. But not now. This time they were outside.

The night felt good. Nox closed his eyes for couple of seconds and allowed his senses to feel this new dreamscape. It did not feel the same as a real night, but it felt still better than any of his previous dreams. Genuine night darkness, even if not complete blackness, was a wonderful thing. "Hello darkness my old friend…" Nox mused and suddenly he opened his eyes again.

A dream. He was in a dream. He suddenly realized how clear everything was for it to be dream. His dreams were not this clear. Dreams were hazy, imprecise and made him think and feel illogically. Now he was feeling like he was awake. Only the faintest clouding in the back of his mind and the some unreality of some sensations marked this as a definite dream.

Why was it different? What kind of special occasion was this?

Then he saw Ruby. She was dressed in an unusual attire, completely different from her normal combat gear except for the color scheme. The festive feeling of her costume vexed Nox. Her normal more Gothic style clothing was much better.

"What is going on here?" Nox asked as he walked towards Ruby.

The girl ignored him and started making her way away from him, heading into the night with no regard for him.

"Hey!" Nox grunted a bit louder. "I asked you a question."

Still Ruby did not respond, only continued moving away.

"Are you deaf or something…" Nox trailed off. This was a dream he suddenly remembered. His dream. But maybe not necessarily hers.

Nox kicked some speed with his raptor feet and quickly catches up to slower moving Ruby. He pulled past her and stepped right into her path. Ruby did not even blink as she soon walked right into to his face and then fluidly passed right through his body.

Nox glanced down at his chest that had not felt a thing and then turned to watch after Ruby. He then ran after her and started to follow.

Maybe this was only dream on his part, Nox suddenly realized as the two of them passed some of the buildings of the Beacon academy. Maybe these events he was seeing were actually happening right now as he was sleeping in his hidden coma sanctum on the attic of the dorm building.

"Well, little miss Rose, show me what is worth this exceptional circumstance."

Their way led to the CCT tower, and as Nox's gaze swept over the huge building, he caught a glimpse of a dark shape slipping in the main door. Ruby followed the shape and Nox followed Ruby.

There was a fallen Atlesian soldier half hidden on the left side of the entrance, dumped into cover of a bush, unconsciously sleeping on his watch most likely not intentionally.

Nox stared as Ruby did something with her scroll and there was a sound of a rocket engine to be heard in the night. A remote controllable weapon locker crashed into the ground from the sky, opening up to reveal Ruby's Crescent Rose Scythe. Crescent Rose Scythe Rifle? Scytfle~.

Ruby picked up her weapon and then checked on the soldier. After that she made her way into the building without wasting time, Crescent Rose raised in readiness. She would have looked a bit more threatening if she had not almost tripped on her ridiculous shoes three times on the way. She looked like she was not used to combat heels.

There were more Atlesian soldiers inside, all beaten down and knocked out. Nox made his way among them, seeing only few and little telling signs of weapon damage. Only one of them had signs of bullet damage on his armor. Maybe the attacker did not want to leave easily recognizable weapon trails, the school had people with some quite unique weapons which left quite recognizable marks. These were little scratches, the attacker had most likely used regulated force of their weapon to knock out the soldiers rather than to cleanly slice them to pieces or smash them to pulp.

One of the elevators across the hall had it's doors closed and the display indicated it was currently in use, ascending upwards the tower. The one who had caused this mess in the lobby was almost certainly on that elevator. Soon the display showed the elevator had stopped moving, currently remaining on the first communication level.

Ruby went through the Atlesian soldiers, making sure they were not in immediate danger.

 _How caring of you._ Nox sneered.

Then Ruby picked another elevator, and Nox quickly jumped into it with her. Ruby pressed a button at the thing started ascending, every moment bringing them closer and closer to the culprit they were after.

The doors opened.

And there was no one.

The was space filled with monitors was completely empty of anyone and calm silent. Not a soul in sight, only faint hum of the towers machinery on the edge of hearing. For a moment it looked like nothing was wrong.

Then the masked woman stepped from behind one of the monitor tables. And then she attacked Ruby.

* * *

The night was nearing it's festive end when Orchid finally rose to the podium where the music system was located. The two tin heads that had been in charge of the sound for most of the evening stepped aside and allowed him to take control. The last calm beats of previous song died down on the background as Orchid finally got to lay his hand on the controls of the sound creation machines.

His final music number for the evening had been announced in the plans for the evening, but nobody here quite knew what they were in for.

Everything was in place, Orchid ran the final checks to see everything was ready. He could feel his blood start to rush in his veins at the prospect what he was about to do. The anticipation was making his skin ache.

He had never before had the opportunity to anything like this. There was no such equipment back at Terra. And there was no audience.

Here he had both. Coming here had been one of the best ideas of Azuhrius ever. Of all time.

Orchid leaned over the array of controls that he would used to work his miracle. His fingers reached towards a single switch that would start it all, release his masterful symphony to the ears of these souls in the dance hall. But he stopped just as the tip of his finger graced the control.

He heard a voice. A not just any voice. It came from within him, but it seems to echo through the curtain of reality itself. It slithered into his ear, caressing more senses than just his hearing, curling around his mind and soul like it owned it.

Orchid stared blankly forward with wide eyes and mouth.

" _Shred their sanity with my song…"_ the voice whispered to him.

It was unbelievable...

Otherworldly...

 _Divine..._

It was the most beautiful sound in existence, melodic and resonating beyond what was possible for a simple voice. The words it spoke to him were few, but they were the single greatest thing Orchid had ever experienced in his life. They were nectar to his soul, a divine blessing delivered to him that he was as powerless to ignore as he was not to obey.

Orchid blinked tears from his eyes as he turned his gaze downwards. His fingers were radiating with purplish divine aura, and the machinery below his hands was somehow feeling like it was forming a connecting with his very mind.

Orchid lowered his hands upon the controls. He had intended to give the people here an experience of noise and majesty, of beauty and chaos. Nothing too extreme, just little something Azuhrius would not lose his shit over if he found out.

But now… Now with some actual divine help that had been granted to him, he would be able to do so much more… Oh the things he would deliver...

The faintly radiating pink eyes gazed across the hall in front of them. Orchid took a one good deep breath. Then the hands descended over the sound controls.

And the world _exploded_ with unholy noise and sensation.

* * *

 **Let me say that this chapter was quite a bit influenced by feedback from you readers. This chapter could have been very different. I really take into consideration all you say, even if not in a way you might expect. Oh the ideas I get from you...**

 **Now, some of you might know Zahariel. He is the author behind fics _Warband of the Forsaken Sons,_ as well as _Roboutian Heresy._ You might know I do artwork for the latter from time to time. Anyway, he also does 40k short stories, and more importantly under that: Chaos flavor quotes. I would now like to share and bring forth some of his Chaos quotes. These will mainly be about the Astartes Legions, I think Zahariel really succeeded with these.**

 **I will only have here the quotes about Legions that have made an appearance in my story, as well as one special bonus pick. Also, these quotes are attributed to a Chaos Oracle of Tzeetch, so do not under any circumstances take these as absolutely truthful or unbiased. Never, NEVER fully trust anything anyone Chaos aligned says. Especially in my story~**

 **Here we go:**

"They hold many secrets, and their lords live every day in dread of their ancient sins being revealed. They do not realize that within the Eye, every scion of the Nine Legions know of the First's breaking, and laugh every time the Angels betray their allies to hide the evidence of their past treachery."

\- on the Dark Angels

"Their pride was their downfall, for in their arrogance they believed that they could do no wrong, and thus did not see the yawning chasm before the path on which they were pushed. Now they are empty shells, forever hungering for more to consume in the vain hope of filling the hole inside their souls ..."

\- on the Emperor's Children

"A fractured brotherhood ... or was it that they were never brothers at all ? They are killers and torturers all, but while some take pleasure in the fear of their victims, others simply use it as a tool. And yet, only a few have truly embraced Chaos, while the rest keep it at arm's length, prosecuting their vengeful war without its gifts. Does that make them strong, or foolish ?"

\- on the Night Lords

"They are agents of terror. It is not death that walks alongside them, nor any of the Four. Instead, they spread fear around them, feeding upon it, growing stronger as they revel in the emotional turmoil they inspire. The daemons born of their deeds pay allegiance to no God, for Horror does not lie in any of their dominion."

\- on the Night Lords

"Collared by their father, broken by their brother, branded by an uncaring god of mindless violence and carnage. Theirs is a life of endless torment, relieved only briefly by the shedding of blood. But even as their minds are slowly eaten away by the parasitic engine wired into their brains, they are fully aware of what is happening to them – it is how they react to that knowledge that differentiate them ..."

\- on the World Eaters

"Their nobility is a lie; their perfection, an illusion. Those among them who cling to their Primarch's writings as if they were holy words insult his memory with their every breath, while those who truly embrace his teachings are rejected as dangerous deviants. In the end, they are nothing more than a joke to amuse the Dark Gods."

\- on the Ultramarines

"They call out to the gods as they wreak slaughter upon their foes, for they know that the true temple of Chaos is on the battlefield. They believe themselves to be elevated above all others, the chosen warriors of Ruin. In truth, they are but slaves, too blind to even see their chains ..."

\- on the Word Bearers

"Many times have the servants of the False Emperor believed these snakes to have finally been eradicated. But they turn every defeat into a victory, weaving lies with such skill that even they no longer know which of the myriad stories they hold in their minds is the truth ..."

\- on the Alpha Legion

"Snakes, hiding from view even for the lords of the Crystal Labyrinth. Their minds are barred by such walls that even they know not what truly lies beyond. The weight of a thousand and one secrets has crushed them, and the might that was once theirs is now but a pale reflection of the shadow they cast still."

\- on the Alpha Legion

 **And now for the last one. This quote actually is not originally about Chaos Space Marines, but it could express Venatores so well that I just had to share it:**

 _"Champions of dead gods, echoes of a glorious past that was never as bright as the soul-broken claim it to be. Theirs is a false honor, and the deeds of the heroes they emulate were atrocities of unprecedented scale. In the end, they are nothing more than sad puppets, continuing their dance long after their master have left the stage ..."_

 **Rest of Zahariel's _one thousand_ quotes can be found from his 40k Short Stories on this site or from Spacebattles forums by simply googling 40k Chaos Flavor Quotes.**

 **Leave a review, if you feel it in your heart, and Happy Holidays~**


	26. Chapter 25

**So I got one of these Chapters that you guys like so much.**

 **I have a confession to make. I have an addiction. I am addicted to good Quotes. The ones from Zahariel last Chapter woke a hunger in me. And the ones I keep slipping into my story just are not enough anymore. So from this day forward, I will be having a Quote at the start of every Chapter of Chaos is the Prize. They may or may not have something to do with the Chapter, but overall you should see a theme in them. Some of them are from real people, some from 40k characters. I hope you will enjoy reading and wrapping your head around them.**

 **So, without anything further, lets have our first one.**

* * *

 **Chaos is the Prize Chapter 25**

 **"I recognize in thieves, traitors and murderers, in the ruthless and the cunning, a deep beauty - a sunken beauty."**

 **-Jean Genet**

The cacophony of the Prince of pleasure was too much for the simple machinery chosen to convey the otherworldly song, and it could not take it anymore. There was a loud *BANG* as the massive loudspeakers reached the end of their tolerance and simultaneously fell silent, releasing clouds of black smoke as they stopped functioning.

The dance hall went suddenly eerily silent, the students coming to a complete stillness as they took in their surroundings like they had been suddenly woken from a trance.

Orchid looked down at the controls of the music machinery that were devoid of power and fuming slightly, and then he beheld the hall in front of him. He could see the traces of the Dark Prince's sweet music all around him.

Most people were unaffected, holding their ears and looking around them in puzzlement. Orchid frowned at them, displeased that he had been unable to reach to them.

But some had clearly lost themselves to the music, their torn clothes or strange situations (How the hell did that boy end up hanging from the ceiling?) speaking clearly of them being touched during the blessed noise. Orchid's eyes picked them out of the crowd, smile on his face.

Slightly puzzled Kiara looked like she had just been assaulting extremely confused looking Aureolin, who seemed to have lost his ability to stand momentarily. Dove looked like he was about to dive into the punch bowl. Neptune was passed out on the floor, the marble under him cracked like he had tried to smash through with his forehead.

Orchid turned his gaze upwards towards nothingness. His beautiful music had been interrupted. The cursed machine had given out in the middle of it all, bringing a stop to the cacophony way too soon. Orchid reached out with his mind and senses in shame, listening to any fading trails of the Empyrean for signs of his God's displeasure for his failing. He could detect nothing, and he dared to hope the Dark Prince was at least somewhat pleased by this small tribute. He would do better in the future, he would bring forth sensations worthy of the deity he worshiped, he promised this to the cold and unanswering air of the dance hall.

Orchid jumped off the small stage where the musical machinery was located. He wondered if there was any punch left.

* * *

Teale was not expecting Azuhrius or anything. She just felt that day like hanging around in outside. Early in the morning. Near the landing pads with a clear view. Well, okay, maybe the thought of being the first person to welcome him back had crossed her mind. So when the airship came into the view, she quickly jumped off the bench she had been sitting on and dusted off her uniform. Then she started making her way towards the landing pad, just as the Bullheads ramp lowered to touch the ground.

Azuhrius stepped out of the aircraft, carrying a large black bag hanging over his shoulder. He looked really cool, Teale thought. Not in the way Neptune did, but in a more contained way, like he was not even trying. He looked like a guy who had all under control, like a guy who would be getting what he wanted in the end. It was rather curious how he did usually somehow end up getting what he wanted in the end, now that Teale thought about it. It was a shame he had been occupied by family matters, she really would have wanted to go to the dance with him.

"Hi!" Teale said cheerfully with a beat in her steps as she reached Azuhrius. "Welcome back"

Azuhrius looked at her and gave her a calm smile. "It is good to be back," he said as he gazed at Beacon looming in front of him. He continued walking forward on the grand road and Teale joined along next to him.

"So how did your journey go?" Teale asked as she marched alongside Azuhrius, hands folded behind her back. "Did you manage to take care of all the things you wished? How is your family by the way?"

Azuhrius glanced at her from the corner of his eye without turning his head. "They are fine, same as always. And I did indeed manage to take care all that I went out to do, thank you for asking." Azuhrius glanced at Beacon tower for a moment before turning his head towards Teale. "How have things been while I have been gone?" He asked with a tone that suggested he was halfway waiting for some grand disaster to have happened while he was not around to look after the school.

Before Teale could reply, the was a distant shriek of distress, and Jaune Arc came into sight from one of the smaller roads that lead to the gardens the academy. The blond boy was sprinting like he was running from a pack of hungry beowolves. Which was maybe not that far off, since soon the forms of Nox and Orchid came into view, chasing after Jaune with predatory leaps.

Teale followed with her eyes and mouth open, while Azuhrius just sighed next to her. Teale had seen how fast Nox could be, and the fact that he had not yet caught up with the Jaune suggested he was not trying that hard. Maybe he was somehow enjoying the chase.

Just when the two pursuing teammates of Azuhrius crossed the grand road of the school, some distance in front of Azuhrius and Teale, Nox suddenly slowed down and motioned Orchid to do the same. He motioned with one of his pale fingers at something at the side of the road.

Teale was now close enough to hear the words Nox spoke out to his teammate.

"Look. Are those..."

"I think they are…" Orchid agreed.

Both of the boys broke away from the course that would have lead them after Jaune. Instead they proceeded to the side of the road, where they circled around a mysterious plastic wrapped package.

"Pancakes!" Nox cried out in delight. He got down on his metallic knees to get a hold of this totally out of place prize he had just discovered.

Orchid followed his lead, glancing over his shoulder at the back of Jaune who was now considerable distance away. "Weren't we… weren't we going to capture that guy over there…" He asked with an uncertain voice.

"We'll do it some other time," Nox announced with a shrug.

"Some other time then," Orchid agreed with a smile and focused on their bounty.

Teale looked at the two boys for a moment and then glanced away to see Jaune hiding behind one of the thick shrubs of the yard. He was hugging Ren, the frail voice carrying far enough for Teale to hear how he was thanking Ren over and over again. Then Jaune spotted Teale and Azuhrius who were walking towards the school, and he came over with a speed Teale had rarely seen him achieve.

"You…" the blond boy said while standing in front of Azuhrius. Then Jaune broke in to tears and hugged Azuhrius as well. "Thank you… thank you so much for coming back…" He bowled against Azuhrius´s shoulder.

Azuhrius patted Jaune's shoulder with a bit stiff movements and a bit awkward face before the blond finally released him.

As Teale followed after, Azuhrius proceeded next to meet up with his two teammates. Nox and Orchid were sitting on the ground, dividing the pancakes between the two of them.

"Oh, you are back", Nox said with only barest of glimpses up at his team leader. "So how was it back at you know where?"

"Same old," Azuhrius replied as Orchid jumped up to greed his teammate by grabbing his hand wrist to wrist.

"That bad, huh?" Nox mumbled.

"So, did anything happen while I was gone? Anything at at all?" Azuhrius asked as he looked between his two teammates.

""Nope"" they replied in almost too perfect sync as they shook their heads.

"I see." Azuhrius said with an unreadable expression. "Well I will see the two of you later. I have something to discuss with you when the whole team is gathered." With those words Azuhrius continued to walk, leaving the two boys with their pancakes behind.

Teale followed, waiting for them to reach out of earshot from Nox and Orchid.

Surely somebody had called Azuhrius and informed what had happened while he had been gone. Teale would have, but she did not have Azuhrius' scroll number, which she realized she should work to obtain as soon as possible. "Sooo…" Teale began. "...You do know of the Pancake Massacre, right?" Teale asked cautiously.

Azuhrius stopped right where he was, turning his face to Teale with blank expression. "Dust dammit, why do I always hear from these things from other teams!?"

* * *

"This tall", Nox reached out his hand reasonably over his own head. "Black hair, rather long. Eyes like glowing embers," He ended his description from the vague dream memory. He had lied to Ozpin that he had been there that evening, stalking the nightly Beacon and caught a glimpse of the mysterious culprit who had infiltrated the CCT tower last night. Nobody needed to know it had actually been a dream that he woken from early this morning, and he doubt nobody would have believed him even if he told the truth.

"I see." General _fucking_ Ironwood said with a very stern voice from next to Ozpin's table. Glynda on the opposite side remained quiet like she had been during all the time Nox had been on Ozpin's clockwork office. She was irritated, yes, but she was containing it much better than Ironwood.

"Anything else?" Ozpin asked from behind his desk.

Nox thought for a moment, trying to stretch his memory for some last glimmers of information that he might be able to offer to the headmaster. "No…" Nox said after a short while. "That is all I can think of."

"Very well then. Thank you mister Deimos, you have been helpful. You may go now, we will let you know if there is anything further we wish to discus" Ozpin said with definitive tone.

Nox did not move. He had given the information, and now he hopped it had bought at least some trust from the tyrant behind the desk. "Headmaster…" He said with a cautious tone after a quick lick of his lips and a glance at Ironwood. "I was hoping that this could-"

"I know what you are going to ask," Ozpin interrupted Nox, raising his palm in a rejective gesture. "You have been useful, but I will not give _it_ back to you. Not yet. _It_ will still remain in my custody for the time being. You may go."

Nox bit down his anger, glancing quickly at Ironwood again, hoping that all his ass kissing would have earned him some favor from the General. Ironwood however remained quiet, and looked like he had other things in mind.

"As you say, _headmaster,"_ Nox said as he turned his angry gaze from the three adults, not quite managing to hide the venom in his voice. He marched to the elevator, his metallic talons making a bit less sound as they tensely took him to the elevator floor. The door opened, he stepped in, and soon the door closed as he pressed a button that would take him down.

As soon as the doors closed and the elevator started descending, Nox let out a shriek of anger and disappointment, smashing his fist against the the wall of the small space he was in. The metal did not give in under his fist that was currently not channeling his Aura, so all it really did was hurt him, but he did not care in his anger.

Nox had hoped this tiny show of loyalty would have earned him his treasure back, but it had apparently not been enough. He seethed with vexation as she smashed the wall again, his other hand sliding down the control panel and pressing all the floor buttons. A little something troublesome for the next person who would use the elevator.

There was a beep and the doors of the elevator opened. Nox turned with intent of walking out, only to see the last person he wished to see right now. Ruby stepped out of the way, with a bit caution in his eyes. Maybe he saw the anger on his face.

Ruby looked like he was going to say something, but Nox did not give her the chance as he stormed past her and out of the building.

* * *

"Today we stand together, united," Ozpin began his speech to the crowd of students.

 _Well Warp fucking dammit._ Nox almost spat on the the floor of the circular hall where all the students, not just from Vale but the other Kingdoms too, were gathered. _This is going to be one of those Greater Good speeches isn't it…_

"Mistral… Atlas… Vacuo… Vale… The four Kingdoms of Remnant."

Those words hurt somewhere deep inside him, in a place Nox had not known even existed. _Four_ Kingdoms. What did he care of the damned ruins and legacy of Terra? He had left it all behind. But for some reason, those words still filled his heart with bitterness.

"On this day nearly eighty years ago, the largest war in recorded history came to an end," Ozpin continued to pour salt into the wound.

"Your words cut deep," Nox whispered to himself.

Yes. The Heresy.

The war that had seen Terra wiped out as the greatest of Kingdoms, or even as a Kingdom. The war without victors. The war that Nox knew some (most) Venatores back at Terra still considered going on in the legacy of the Long War.

Terra had been broken in the Heresy, and after that crippled in the Legion Wars, until it had finally properly been slain in the War of the Beast by the claws of the Grimm. Terra had been annihilated, its population exterminated and its once invincible though Legions shattered and forced into hiding in the the ruins of their dead empire. While rest of the Kingdoms prospered, thrived, grew fat on their hypocrisy and delusions behind their high walls.

Nox wished to he could shut his ears from the next words Ozpin spoke of the war. Partly because what did the damn old man knew of anything. Partly because he did not want to hear the truth in the words.

When the white haired headmaster started talking about the fucking diversity cult of the Kingdoms, Nox could not take anymore and actually spat on the floor. Azuhrius glanced at him for a moment, cool as an icicle, like the words had absolutely no effect on him, unable to pierce his mask.

Orchid and Sangur did not look like they were even listening. Sangur looked like what he always looked like when he was forced to stand around while words were being shared: He kept twitching and spasming, his gaze swinging, unable to focus on anything for long, as if he was desperately looking for something dangerous to warrant start of killing.

Orchid was just in his own world, dispassionately looking at the air. He did not seem to find anything wrong with the words, maybe the addict even partly agreed with all that talk about self expression. On a closer look, there was blue vapor coming from Orchid's nostrils, and it flared bright pink when it made contact with the air outside of his lungs.

"What the hell have you been taking this time…" Nox mutered.

"Hey, what the hell I have _not_ been taking?" Orchid replied with sickly wide pupils. "No, really, tell me, I need to try it too."

Then Ozpin mentioned the color naming. Now if anything before that had hurt, then hearing about the color naming tradition was pure painful. Terra was dead, it's population gone. Legions had been forced over the years to recruit from other outside sources. And all the young boys they had taken, all of them had had color names because of the naming tradition. Now that the Legions could not allow, their pride would not let such silly thing as Neophyte's name meaning colors opposite to the Legion heraldry. Like a Nigh Lord named Sun or a Salamander named Neptune. Yeah, fuck no.

So the Legions had over the years invented their own tradition: every new recruit would be given a new name upon their elevation to the Adeptus Venatores. And the colors used for naming would be in line with the recruit's Legion color scheme. Like Nox for the VIIIth. Sangur for the XIIth. Orchid for the IIIrd. Azuhrius for the XXth.

"-Individuality, expressionism, unity, through diversity," Ozpin spoke, and every word made Nox ever more venomous. He did not believe unity worked that way. It certainly did not for the 18 different Legions of Terra who were at each other's throats half the time. Unity was brought by wearing the same colors, the same heraldry, having a similar Legion mindset. Having the progenoid glands with same genetic heritage and the blood of same progenitor flowing in your vains.

Nox glanced at his "Team." How he missed proper Nostraman company. How he missed his brothers.

But he knew though, only a fool would believe a bond of blood guaranteed unity. Nothing truly did.

* * *

"Can we take Search and Destroy?" Sangur said instantly after Ozpin finished his stupid speech and the students started to gather around the quest boards. "Please please please please? Or if there is just Destroy mission that would be fine too."

"Unfortunately no." Azuhrius said, and he could see Sangur's mood crashing right through the floor. "I have already very specific mission selected for us."

"Does it involve killing something?" Sangur asked with vain hope.

"Unfortunately no," Azuhrius said for the second time as he lead his team towards one of the bright mission selection ports.

""" _Perimeter defence_?!""" Sangur and Orchid cried out in outrage, after Azuhrius showed them the mission.

"Well dammit, something totally not dangerous or involving hard work, sheez how unfortunate…" Nox said while trying not to smile.

"Yes" Azuhrius said with a calm smile as he without further debate selected the mission and signed team ASON up.

"What, you guys are taking up a defense mission?" came a small echo of laughter from the passing Team TACO. "LOL! We are going to go smash some fiends of darkness while you stay behind to guard some wall repairs," Oliver Magnolio chuckled as his team walked away, causing Nox to suddenly perk up in alert until he realized fiends of darkness referred to the Grimm.

"Yes, it would seem part of the south east wall has come up with very recently dire need of repairs," Azuhrius mused with a smirk when TACO was out of earshot.

Orchid picked up on the tone of his voice. He really knew Azuhrius better than than the Alpha Legionnaire liked to admit. "You caused it", he said with pink eyes narrowing in sudden realization. "You, somehow, caused that incident to the wall so that it requires repairs."

Azuhrius only smiled with a glint in his eyes. "Now how would I have done that?" he asked rhetorically.

Kaltrina and others had not been idle while he had been gone, oh no. Som had provided excellent location information about the White Fang operation in Mountain Glenn. Even if the school had not picked up the damaged wall as a mission for students, there were two other incidents his operatives had orchestrated in quadrant 5 (though he did not understand why there was a fifth quadrant) that would seem like a perfect training for the students. Both of the reserve incidents had ended up on the mission boards, but the perimeter defence of the wall was his first choice. Not only would there be very little to do, it would also be extremely easy to slip away without anyone missing them for quite a while. And it just so happened that certain old and closed off rail track passed directly under the wall in need of repair, offering a direct route to Mountain Glenn. Yep, Azuhrius had all this planned up.

"You have something planned, don't you snake," Nox asked with suspicious tone, black eyes gleaming. Nox was right be suspicious. Azuhrius had not shared any of his plans with his team, not even with Orchid. They did not need to know anything until they might be needed and the time was right.

"Don't I always?" Was the only reply Azuhrius gave as he lead his team towards the landing pads.

* * *

The "professional" Huntress assigned to team ASON seemed like she could not care any less about the mission, or what was generally happening around her. From her talk and demeanor, Nox got the impression she had taken this particular student escort mission because there was literally nothing to do, and she could just get paid while laying around. Maybe Azuhrius had somehow known she would be assigned to them. She seemed far too perfect uncaring supervisor, just the kind of person who would not notice a thing if Azuhrius decided to do something.

"Okay boys. You have the maps, and your perimeter guarding posts are marked there," Cherr said with a bored breath that may or may not have reeked slightly of alcohol. She had told them to just call her Cherr, and had literally told nothing else about herself to them. She flailed a piece of printed map in her hands, depicting the area where they were in. Nox had a copy in his hands, and there were five red "X" drawn on the map in a half circle covering the wall that was under repairs. The spots were far from each others, as well as from the wall that was visible behind some trees way behind him.

Cherr stopped and sat down on a large rock in the middle of the forest, laying herself to rest on it without care in the world. Team ASON stopped behind her and dropped their bags on the ground next to the rock.

Cherr was fairly young, maybe a decade older than Nox. She had a long red hair flowing chaotically down her back, and she had one of those cowboy hats that she pulled over her bright red eyes as she layed on the rock. She was wearing brown leather jacket and similar long pants, and she had an ammunition belt going around her right shoulder and left waist, sporting the oversized ammunition her revolver used. "You know your positions. Get there and keep your eyes open for Grimm or something. Remember to alert help immediately if you happen to see anything or whatever." She laid her hands behind her head and fell silent on top of the rock without any further words.

Nox glanced around at Sangur and Orchid next to him and shrugged. Azuhrius was still back at the wall, taking care of "just some minor business" by his own words. He was suppose to join them soon.

Nox nodded to his two teammates and they started to head out into the forest in the direction that would lead to the first marked perimeter defense position. Cherr's position was closest to the wall on the left side of the half circle they were suppose to form, the rest of the spots fanned out quite a bit further yet.

The whole situation was nearly pointless, Cherr had let them know quite early on. The mounted cannon turrets and point defense batteries of the walls were completely operational and would gun down anything resembling a Grimm way before it would reach even close to the perimeter line. They were there just because the protocol demanded a safety team to be on guard, just in case. Short version, they were there for absolutely no reason, and would not see a single Grimm. Nox could live with that.

"Okay, I am taking this one, you two go on," Nox muttered as they reached a second perimeter guard location marked on his map.

Sangur continued forward without a word, pulling out his twin axes and then started slashing at any trees that were foolish enough to stand in his way.

"I sure hope Azuhrius gets on with whatever he has been up to," Orchid muttered as he followed Sangur. The two of them disappeared soon from sight, and Nox followed the example of their huntress and sat down on to the ground, laying his back against a tree trunk.

He laid there for quite a while, until he heard steps behind him. He glanced over his shoulders and saw a blue haired boy in familiar modified Atlesian military armor coming his way along the forest.

"I got you these," The boy said as he reached Nox, throwing him a small bag that seemed to full of ration bars and water bottles, as well as a some kind of communicator vox device. "We get more food when the evening comes. The communicator is much more reliable than scrolls here outside the walls with their strong local area connection, even if we are not that far out. But that does not mean we won't be at some point," he said with a small smile, as if he was certain they were going to travel a long way out from the walls at some point. "The frequency is only between us four. Feel free to chat with the others but stay alert, an important call might come anytime."

Nox took the food and the communicator without looking at them. His eyes were nailed to the boy standing next to him. "Who the hell are you?" he asked from the blue haired, green eyed boy in Atlesian armor.

The boy smiled a mischievously, in way that Nox had never seen Azuhrius do.

"I am Alpharius," the boy replied.

 _Well I sure walked right into that didn't I…_

* * *

 **Just to make it clear, that is not Azuhrius at the end with Nox. Snake#1 is elsewhere.**

 **Say, would you guys be interested in a map that shows where the home towns/cities/places of Primarchs _were_ (most are not around anymore) located on Remnant during the Age of Imperium? Not that it will have _much_ story relevance, but I like creating stuff.**

 **Leave a review, if you feel it in your heart, and have an nice day.**


	27. Chapter 26

**It is me again. And I brought a chapter with me. No pushing please, everybody can have a look.**

 **I just realized how close to the end of the Volume 2 we are. Feel like it has taken forever. Some interesting stuff on the way, happening between Volume 2 and 3. But more on that later.**

* * *

 **Chaos is the Prize chapter 26**

 _ **"Oh, God, why don't I remember that a little chaos is good for the soul?"**_

 _ **-Marilyn French**_

"So, where is Azuhrius?" Nox spoke to the communicator as he was sitting on the forest bed his back against a tree trunk. It was not yet starting to get dark, but an sliver of twilight could be seen on the horizon. After a few more hours they would call it a day and retreat back to the wall for the night. The wall repair would cease until tomorrow as the workers retired after a day's work, so they did not need the perimeter guard. Nox would have been fine sitting here through the night.

"We have been here for almost two days and you are only asking that now?" answered a voice so much like that of Azuhrius. But it was not. It sounded almost the same, but Nox could still differentiate Ceruleon's voice from Azuhrius'. The second Legionnaire of the XXth said things slightly differently, just so slightly that Nox could tell.

"Are you going to answer or are you XXth guys going to keep us in the dark." That was the only kind of dark Nox did not like.

"He is far beyond the wall," the new guy Ceruleon answered. "That is all I am telling you for now."

"You know," Nox spoke after a moment. "Back when we did the dock heist thing, Azuhrius actually did explain his oh so clever plan beforehand."

"This is not the same thing. You guys are not taking part this time. This is solely the matter of the XXth."

"Then why the fuck are we here?" Nox sneered. "Azuhrius arranged this mission for us, I know it. Why would he if we were not needed."

"You are a precaution," Ceruleon answered slightly smugly like Nox and his team was just a tiny, almost irrelevant part of whatever ploy the snakes were up to now. "You three can do nothing more than fight. Or more like two out of three of you actually, but whatever. We hope there is no need for that this time, we will be subtle and undetected. Unless nothing goes wrong, you don't have to bother your brain with anything."

"Why the fuck do you think we are going to help you if something goes wrong or whatever?" Nox growled, tinkering with the gleaming talons of his left hand. "Azuhrius is the team leader in name only, and while Orchid might do whatever he orders, me and Sangur don't give a shit about any of your plans. We are here because the school forced us, not to act as your safety net."

"We will see," Ceruleon said and the line went silent as both of them shut up.

"I will help if there is killing to be done!" Sangur's little too eager voice could soon be heard.

"Shut up," Nox sighed.

* * *

The Paladin was an interesting machine. Kaltrina could see how it was the future of the fight against the Grimm for Atlas. Mechanization in the form of androids allowed them to already field number of soldiers that the human population of Kingoms would not have allowed, and now they had versatile warmachines that could supplement the weaknesses of the androids. The Paladin battle mech was in certain sense trying to be what huntsmen and huntresses were, a one man killing machine capable of taking on most Grimm biomorphs. And they could be mass produced by the Kingdoms, unlike Aura wielders. Kaltrina wondered if Azuhrius saw that and if that fact made Azuhrius feel some kind of kinship with the weapon battle mech.

There were many of these practically walking tanks in the White Fang operation site in the underground of Mountain Glenn. The sheer number of these highly dangerous prototype weapons spoke highly of the capabilities of the White Fang and their sponsors. The Faunus supremacy organization had come a long way and was establishing itself as a considerable military power. XXth would have great use for some of that power that was in weak hands, there for the taking.

Kaltrina watched the rows of battle mechs loaded onto the train, even touching one of their massive legs out of sudden impulse. Such a powerful tool of war, usable by anyone who would train to use it.

Kaltrina was suddenly dragged out of her thoughts by some commotion on the cargo area next to the train behind her. She turned, leaning outward from the train to see what it was all about. She felt a sudden rush in her veins and spine as she caught a sight of two White Fang thugs escorting a young girl in black and red combat dress by dragging her by her arms towards the main loading area. Kaltrina recognized the girl instantly.

 _What in the Warp is she doing here?! How did she end up here?_

The answer to that could wait. At this moment Kaltrina had to convey this sudden new development forward. She pulled back inside on the the train carts, making sure no one was sharing it with her. Then she pulled out a small, local area communicator that was hidden in her blue hair, and quickly activated it.

"Janus," she whispered the code word into the device. "Beta to Alpha."

There was moment of silence before the reply finally came. " **Orpheus. This is Alpha, listening."** came a slightly static framed voice.

"White Fang patrol has just arrived to the main site with what appears to be detained Ruby Rose. Requesting instructions," Katrina said, her gaze constantly shifting between the closed entrances of the cart.

Another silent pause. " **Verifying, stand by."**

Kaltrina waited, seconds passing by in silence as she waited for the person on the other side of the line to take a look at the situation themselves, asses the situation and decide appropriate course of action. After almost half a minute of mute coms, she received her orders.

" **We will adapt. Rally with Gamma. The situation might start escalating right now, get ready. Mission parameter Hecate."**

"Received and understood, Beta out," Kaltrina said and filed the communicator away. He hurried out of the cart, heading towards the location where she would meet up with "Gamma." It was looking like they would have to move out way sooner than expected.

* * *

Sangur banged his head against a tree trunk, making his skull ring for a smallest of moments. He was not sure if the hitting his head against something hard actually made the hot agony in his mind ease for the duration of a heartbeat, but it offered a distraction that at least made him think so. Nothing was was more terrible than just sitting around unmoving. He rarely was unmoving, if ever. Even in his sleep his body spasmed because of his mutilated mind. He hit his head agaist the tree again. And again. And again. Again. Again Again.

He only stopped when the communicator laying next to him on the ground burst into life in a crackle of static. Sangur quickly grabbed the tiny device into his palm and listened. For a while there was nothing but static humming coming from the line.

"Hecate... " Came a single word finally, and then it was quiet again.

"Well, it looks like something has caused need for intervention," Came the new guy's voice soon after, so very similar to Azuhrius voice. Sangur did not remember his name though. He was really bad with remembering names. He would call the Legionnaire Second Serpent for now.

"Meet me by the wall, there is an access hatch that will lead down into the tunnel running below us. I have a transportation waiting there."

"Wait just a fucking moment," Nox's voice cut in. "We are not going anywhere. This is you mess whatever it is. Keep us out of it."

"Azuhrius is calling," Orchid's whimpy voice spoke next. "I am on my way."

"Well maybe the drug head will come, but you can forget about me and Sangur," Nox snarled. "There is nothing in this for us. Carry your own burden."

"Wait, I am just getting another message from Azuhrius," Second Serpent suddenly said.

"How are you even communicating with him if he is so far away from the walls?" Nox asked but received no answer. Sangur would not have been surprised if the XXth pair could read each other's thoughts across vast distances. Or maybe they used smoke signals. It probably was not beyond XXth to actually use it as an effective method of communication.

"Okay." Came the new guy's voice again. "Apparently, there is a lot of blood there."

That made Sangur perk up. The line was completely silent for a long moment as everybody simple did not know what to say.

"Like, warp dammit, there is so much blood there, like really, how the hell is Azuhrius suppose to spill all of it!?~"

" _You_ SON OF A-" Nox began, but Sangur was already on the move, leaving the communicator behind him on the ground where he had just jumped up.

He ran, fast, and soon he could hear the Nostraman curses ahead of him way before he actually saw the figure of Nox.

Sangur pulled to a halt, drifting to a stop next to Nox who jumped slightly at his sudden appearance. "Time to go." He said.

"NO!"

"Time to go, Sangur repeated at grabbed Nox with him.

"NONONONONONONON!" Nox kept screaming as he dug his weapon talons into the ground and tried to resist Sangur who was pulling from the augmentic legs.

"Time to go!"

"NO NO NO I DON'T WANNAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!"

Communicator on the ground suddenly came to life next to Nox. "Also Nox, Azuhrius told me to tell you that remember to ged rid of your scroll before moving out."

Silence reigned as Sangur and Nox processed the recent words that had just come through the line. Nox was perfectly still, no longer fighting against Sangur's pull.

Then Nox kicked his way out from Sangur's grip with his powerful metal legs, landed somehow triumphantly onto the ground, and then pulled out his scroll with exaggerated movements, holding the smart device in one of his talon hands while his eyes gleamed.

There was a moment of peace before the device met its end in the sharp claws.

" _I was there,"_ Sangur would say afterwards, until afterward became a time quite devoid of laughter. " _I was there, the day Nox slew the Scroll."_

* * *

It had all happened so suddenly. They had been just loading the recently arrived material to the train, with absolutely no hurry, there was plenty of time before they were suppose to execute the operation. And then some little girl stumbles upon their lair and everything goes to hell.

Perry opened another train car door, seeing an empty space through the slits of his Grimm mask. He pushed forward, dozen other White Fang members following not too far behind. They ran through the car and proceeded to exit from the similar door at the other end.

They were on the train, the intruders. Who ever they were, they had managed to hop on before the train had departed Mountain Glenn. And now they were going through the train, coming from the tail end of the multi part vehicle and crushing any White Fang member they came across. Some had tried to stop them with sheer numbers, but the intruders were clearly Aura wielders, there was no doubt at this point, and they had just curb stomped any resistance.

White Fang had few proper Aura wielders among them. Only Torchwick, possibly his small companion and the Lieutenant himself could maybe clash with the intruders and hope to come out on top. But there was only three of them, and Perry was worried they would not be enough.

That is why they needed to use some of the cargo. They had plenty of Paladins, they just had to activate them and crush the intruders. The moving train made attacking with such large machine hard and they were not able to use the whole potential of the mechs, but they could just keep throwing the machines at the enemy and they would succeed eventually. The enemy was strong, but not invincible. Perry would show them the mistake they made when they decided to mess with White Fang.

The next door did not reveal another large car behind it, but a large platform like car filled with immobile battle mechs. They stood hunched and undisturbed, but their imposing figures still managing to impress Perry every time. Such powerful war machines in the hands of the White Fang. Seeing them always made Perry feel like a Faunus revolution was actually possible.

"Qing," Perry said to a masked man next to him in a similar White Fang uniform. "Take the lead machine and secure the end of the car."

"You got it," Qing said as he sprinted to the nearest Paladin and started climbing to the cockpit.

"Bayard, take the second machine and follow Quin."

"Already on it," Another White Fang member said as he headed towards the Paladin next to the one Quin was currently mounting.

"Everyone else," Perry said loudly. "Start hopping on the machines as soon as Quin and Bayard move theirs out of the way. Be swift, we don't have limitless amount of time.

At that moment there was a loud crash from somewhere towards the tail of the train, and Perry could catch a glimpse of a bulky form of Paladin falling off the train and being smashed against the fast moving walls of the tunnel.

Perry swallowed. The White Fang members back at the other Paladin car had already engaged the enemy with their mechs, and it seemingly was not going smoothly. Perry needed to get his people into the machines fast so they could go reinforce their comrades.

"Hurry up boys!" Perry exclaimed at the two Paladins piloted by Quin and Bayard that were just coming to life with a sound of activating engines.

"Okay, I am ready. Lead on, Quin," Bayard's voice came from external speakers of the left side mech.

The only answer Bayard got was the massive fist of Quin's Paladin that smashed into the other war machine with tremendous force, releasing a ear hurting clang of bending metal. Bayard's Paladin was thrown off the train and soon vanished as he crashed right into the wall and quickly disappeared from sight.

"Quin?!" Perry cried out and took a step backwards. That step saved his life, for the other hand of the Paladin came in a sweeping motion from the side, swatting away the White Fang members that were standing in front of Perry with a bone shattering force. Where there had been five Faunus comrades ahead of Perry just a second ago, there were only couple of small smears of blood now.

Perry took another terrified step back as he looked up the giant killer machine that towered over him. "Quin! What are you doing?!"

The speaker of the Paladin came into life in a crack of static. "I am not Quin," said a calm voice. "I am Alpharius..."

""Hydra Dominatus…"" Came two feminine voices behind Perry. He had just enough time to turn and see two White Fang uniformed women behind him pull forth guns, before one aimed her weapon at Perry's head and pulled the trigger.

* * *

Orchid had wondered what kind of "transportation" Ceruleon and Azuhrius had arranged. A car was too difficult to get into the old train tunnel they had descended down to. Maybe motorcycles, he had considered. One of the Operatives of Azuhrius was there waiting in the tunnel, the purple haired one, Vi if he remembered correctly, and she had used a motorcycle back when they had gone to the city. For a moment he thought about a possibility of regular cycles. He would have prefered those.

"...What the fuck is this?" Orchid asked with a face of disbelief. He could not believe what he was seeing.

"That is a draisine and it is going to get us to our destination," Ceruleon informed like there was nothing really weird as fuck about it.

"How… Where did you even get this thing…" Nox asked as he walked closer to the man powered rail transport on the rail tracks in front of them. I looked old, but was still probably operational.

"We got it from one of the maintenance storage along the length of this tunnel. It was just laying there forgotten and we decided it could serve us." Ceruleon smiled as he walked to the thing on the rails and sat on the edge of it. "We are the Alpha Legion. We find purpose for everyone and everything."

"It has a engine, right?" Nox asked the question Orchid was thinking.

"It has, actually. But we have no dust to run it," Ceruleon informed with a shrug.

"And you just could not have filled the tank before hand…" Nox snarled

"We were not certain we would need it and it would have been waste of resources since it can be moved just fine by somebody putting some muscle into work," Ceruleon replied with a small smile.

"And who is going to be the one who puts some muscle into work?" Nox inquired.

"Who ever wants to get into the fight as fast as possible and be the first one into the bloodshed."

"I VOLUNTEER" Came a sudden cry that surprised no one, accompanied by a raised chainaxe.

Orchid huffed and Nox sighed as Sangur jumped onto the draisine and got right into to manhandling the large switch that made the thing go forward.

Ceruleon just rested his back onto the middle components of the device and took it easy. The thing started moving, first slowly but quickly gathering speed as Sangur worked it.

"Vi, take care of business at this end. Terminate all the evidence when you are done," Caruleon gave a shout to the Hydra Operative girl that was apparently not coming with them. Vi gave her master a thumb up and was running away from them in the next moment, disappearing into a side corridor of the tunnel.

Not wanting to miss all the fun, Orchid ran after the draisine and leaped onto it with no effort.

"Time to go!" Sangur roared at Nox who slightly reluctantly jumped on as well while mumbling to himself in Nostraman. He clearly did not want to come. But he came anyway.

Sangur really made them go fast, his Aura enhanced muscles making their weird choice of transportation go faster than it had probably ever gone before. It only took a few moments before Orchid's ears picked up a strange noise coming from ahead of them. "Do you hear that?" he asked from the others.

The sound grew louder, a metallic rumble that echoed along the tunnel. It did not take long for everybody to realize what it was.

"Is that a fucking train?!" Nox exclaimed.

"Yep, that's a train," Caeruleon confirmed as they got into line of sight of the thing after a slight turn. "What the hell are they doing by making their move now?" He clearly had not been expecting coming across the full speed train in the middle of the tunnel.

"Should we, you know, get out of the way?" Nox inquired nervously, seemingly ready to jump off any moment now.

"Is the enemy on that train?" Sangur asked.

"Well, yes, it should be operated by White Fang personnel…" Ceruleon said carefully, eyeing Sangur.

"Then I am getting on that train. And then I will kill everyone in it," Sangur said, let go of the large switch of the draisine, and pulled both chainaxes forth from his back. Then he got ready to jump.

Orchid did the same. There was glorious battle ahead, Warp take him if he was letting Sangur have it all. He too took his weapon in his hand, Malevolence's blade gleaming with thirst like the soul of its wielder.

The distance between them and the train disappeared extremely quickly, and soon every one of them was leaping into the air. The train crushed the draisine like it was not even there, grinding it's broken peaces out of the way with a storm of sparks. The four of them landed on the roof of the first cart, rolling to adapt to the speed of their new ride.

"Blood…" Sangur growled as he spotted a hatch on the roof of the car, quickly moving to it and beginning to cut a way for him with his axes in a sparkle of metal. He did not even bother to check if the hatch was locked or not.

Orchid was waiting right beside the brute who was opening the hatch, and as he waited Sangur to finish, Orchid saw Ceruleon pull up his local area communicator. He said something into the small vox and received a hurried response. "What?!" Ceruleon suddenly said, pulling the full attention of both Orchid and Nox. "Team RWBY? On the train?."

Nox's eye widened. "They are not here, on this train, right? Damn I hate those people, how come we always run into them?!"

Ceruleon listened to the device for a moment longer before filing it away. "Okay, change of plans, we are getting off. There is a huntress team from Beacon on this train and we don't want to come across them. It would be a bit hard to explain how and why we are here. So we are leaving."

"Leaving?" Sangur asked as he reached down with his hand and ripped the badly damaged hatch off from the roof of the cart. "I am not leaving. I was promised blood, and if I can't take theirs, I will take yours. Don't try to stop me," he growled to Ceruleon, who took step back.

"Sangur, violence is not always an answer," Ceruleon tried to dissuade Sangue with poor success.

"No," Sangur growled as he revved up his twin chainaxes. "It is a question, and the answer is YES!" he yelled as he jumped down into the cart.

Orchid was not far behind him. He only listened to Azuhrius. Ceruleon could go to Warp all he cared. And he was already itching for the sensation of battle. For enemies. For victims.

The two of them landed onto the floor of the train's control cart. A handful of White Fang members around them turned to look at him and Sangur, reaching for their weapons hurriedly. Orchid grinned with wide smile, veins pumping with combat drugs, and gleaming pink eyes full of thirst. "Hey…" he said with purring voice before him and Sangur started to massacre the animals.

* * *

 _ **Hydra Dominatus~**_

 **Okay, they are on the train. What do you think will happen?**

 **Also, the map I was talking last time should be up on my DeviantArt page, so do check that out. There is some information about the locations in the description, mainly how they got destroyed.**

 **Leave a review, if you feel it in your heart, and have a nice day.**


	28. Chapter 27

**This chapter should not have been ready when it was, but I got a boost of inspiration after certain someone left me a nice long review. It made my day.**

* * *

 **Chaos is the Prize Chapter 27**

 _ **"The road to excess leads to the palace of wisdom...for we never know what is enough until we know what is more than enough."**_

- **William Blake**

The head car was cleared of the White Fang thugs in just a few seconds. None of the white masked Faunus scum had possessed enough Aura to block more than one strike from Orchid's sword. Much less from Sangur's brutal eviscerating axes that had left vast red splashes of crimson blood all over the walls of lead car.

Orchid took a deep breath, enjoying the air that was filled with coppery scent of blood and fresh corpses. The smell was exhilarating, but so quickly experienced and dismissed. The kills he had deliver with his sublime swordsman skills had flooded his brain with sweet ecstasy, but now it was over and the afterglow was vanishing like water down the train. His body, mind and soul were already craving for more stimuli to fill the void now that he had received the first taste. He needed more. He would always need more. And he could never have enough.

A headless corpse was laying in Orchid's feet, one of the more whole carcasses around him. He kicked it away from him, cursing the weak and quickly experienced fight he had received from it. He hoped for better from the rest of the train.

There had been only five of the enemies, and now that they had been murdered, Sangur was already heading for the door that would lead to the rest of the train. He was growling about blood and skulls and the God on a skull throne, the Nails clearly singing in his head, driving him to search for new victims to sate his insatiable bloodlust.

Orchid was about to follow him, until his eyes catched something from the corner of the car. There was a computer port on the right side of the train controls, sporting multiple view screens with active visual feeds. Most of them were depicting empty train cars, a couple of them showed hurrying White Fang thugs. But one of them offered sight that made Orchid's heart start beating faster and his pupils widen. He made his way to the camera feed as Sangur disappeared from the door, all Orchid's intentions of following forgotten for a moment. He stood in front of the screen, staring at the picture created by colorful pixels, his off hand grabbing the edge of the console panel and squeezing it.

The camera feed from one of the cars showed an ongoing fight between two Aura users. One of them was Yang Xiao Long of the Team RWBY, her golden flowing hair and shotgun gauntlets unmistakable. And the other… the other…

The other was the small white pink brown clothed and haired female, who used umbrella as her elegant weapon, the same person Orchid had briefly encountered and dueled with during the night at the Vale some time ago. She was here. She was here! Here, on this very train!

Orchid pushed his face closer to the screen, glued to to his feet. He could not remove his gaze from the conveyed fight in front of him.

The umbrella female was better, so much better than the graceless member of RWBY. The sight of the smaller fighter easily, sublimely, _perfectly_ dodging and parrying attacks directed at her brought smile on Orchid's face. Her counter-attacks and successful strikes at Yang made Orchid's brain rush with sensation from merely watching such fine fighting. Such beautiful combat, even if against such blunt and artless opponent. The combat umbrella versus shotgun gauntlets, the graceful weapon humiliating the savage one time and time again. Orchid woul not have expected anything less.

The smaller female was clearly playing with the fiery one, dragging on the combat and letting the blond bitch exhaust her Aura and feed her frustration and humiliation. She was not searching for a opening in Yang's defence to attack, she simply allowed Yang to futilely make her desperate blows, demonstrating again and again who was superior.

Pupils wide, grinning mouth slightly open, Orchid stared at the spectacle before him. He knew he should leave and rush to the car where the two fought, but he could not make himself miss any of the show before him. He would do it only after the fight reached its inevitable conclusion.

The result of the fight was clear to see long before the umbrella female used her supreme skills to finally make the decisive strike. Aura exhausted Yang was send flying, smashing hard into the ceiling of the car before falling down to the cold metal floor. Unconscious, defeated, broken.

The umbrella girl adjusted her weapon, pulling a sharp needle like blade from inside the umbrella's shaft. The pointy metal gleamed in the air as she made her way to Yang's unmoving body, the intent of final blow palpable in her calm movements.

Orchid was breathing heavily, blood rushing in his veins. Yes. The final blow was coming. The final settlement of Yang's defeat and humiliation, and the end of her life. "Yes…" Orchid whispered with vibrating voice. "Yes… Kill her… Slay her…claim your kill..."

The needle like blade was raised high, but it never landed to pierce its target. Someone rushed into disrupt the rightful kill, forcing the umbrella female to back down. Orchid caught a sight of the unexpected saviour of Yang, but was too heated by the intervention to pay much attention for the new female. For a moment he just stared, hoping the the umbrella female would strike down the one who dared to deny her kill.

But she did not. She retreated, without any further action against her opponents, leaving unconscious Yang and her saviour behind.

Orchid stared for two more seconds before something snapped inside him. "NO!" He let out an outraged cry, loud and mind shrieking that echoed in the car.

He raised Malevolence and slashed at the monitor he had been watching seconds ago, then expanding his trashing swings to ruin rest of the console. After he had shredded the machinery in front of him to ribbons, he showed no signs of calming down and proceed to lash out anything in his vicinity, all the while howling his anger and disappointment. He destroyed the controls of the train, filled the walls with long lashmars and brutally cut apart the already dead corpses into unrecognizable chunks of meat and bone splinters.

* * *

Sangur ran into couple of more lesser White Fang thugs as he went through the cars. They fell easily and their blood splattered along the walls as Sangur stormed past them even before their corpses hit the floor. He reached the end of the car and opened the door, pushing into the next one.

Sangur stopped. There were two people other than himself in the car he had just entered, one of them seemingly unconscious white coated guy with a bright orange hair and a silly hat. But Sangur paid him little mind, his attention was focused on the figure coming slowly towards him from the other end of the car.

He was a large man, wearing what resembled White Fang uniform, but more personal version than the mass produced ones worn by lesser thugs. His mask was different, which of course was a sign of leadership and greater prowess, Sangur instantly though. The champion of the White Fang was armed with a massive two handed chainsaw, which actually managed to impress Sangur, causing him to smile. This was a worthy opponent, Sangur did not need to see the choice of a chain weapon to understand that. Sangur growled, gunning the trickers of his own chainaxes in anticipation.

"WHo the hell are you?" The Chain Champion barked as he grew closer, his weapon's active engine rumble framing his stony voice. "Get out of the way, I need to go after the Scnhee!"

"BLOOD FOR THE BLOOD GOD! Sangur roared in challenge as a reply and instantly charged. His thirsty axes howled with him as he brought them both down in a wild arc.

The Chain Champion was not caught off guard, raising his massive weapon to block Sangur's onslaught. Their weapons met in a shower sparks, Sangur's weapons smashing and grinding against the flat side of his enemy's larger weapon.

Not bending under the attack, the Chain Champion pushed in defiance, forcing Sangur back. He did not waste time, and his mighty saw came from the right in grand sweep aimed at Sangur's midriff.

Instead of trying to parry with one or both of his axes, Sangur instead hurled himself at the roaring chain weapon, using his chest armor to counter-attack the approaching weapon rather than waiting for it to reach him. His armor met the weapon's teeth, draining horrifyingly his Aura, but robbing the attack some of its power as he smashed into it rather than buckle under it.

A lesser man might have caved in under the blow, but Sangur was a champion of the God Blood and War. He Lived for battle, and the fire of his geneline, Nails in his head and the might of his patron allowed him to not only withstand but to resist. And his body counter-attack left his hands holding the twins free.

Right one of the chainaxes came down, biting into the Chain Champions neck and then proceeded in a cleaving motion down along the Aura protected chest. It was a devastating blow that should have never been allowed to land undisturbed, hungrily ripping away the man's Aura.

"SKULLS FOR THE SKULL THRONE!"

The two separated, pushing past each other rather than stepping away from the melee. Both had delivered a mighty blow, but Sangur had met the one directed at him head on with his armor, where as the Chain Champion had been ravaged across his unprotected neck and chest. The Aura advantage was clear, but it did not stop either of them as they redirected themselves and rushed into each other again.

The blows were powerful, each capable of breaking bones and ravaging the flesh of any one without the protection of Aura. They hammered at each other, They hacked at each other, they smashed into each other, they locked weapon against weapon, they separated, only to meet again in the next instant.

Sangur's mind was filled by the bloodlust, not pain for once. The brutal melee rid his mind of the agony each time their grinding weapons met another, met armor, met Aura. This was what it meant to be alive. This was what he lived for. This was the thing he had been bred for.

The teeth bit, and the Aura gave in under them. Sangur's left axe ripped free of the Chain Champions flesh, taking with it half of his opponent's shoulder. The blood was ushed into the air, flying as a wave of crimson viscera droplets, before landing with a splash against the floor, against the walls, against the fighters.

The two-handed chainsaw dropped to the floor, its master no longer able to wield it. There was no sound from the throat of the White Fang commander, the realization of his wounds not managing to occur to him, and Sangur did not give him a time to do so. The other chainaxe came down in a vicious uppercut only few heartbeats after the first, and it opened the Chain Champion in a shower of gore from heart to groin. The axe that had first pierced the Aura came back again, striking from below and smashing through the chin, face and the forehead of the ravaged man.

The body hit the floor, and everything slowed down from the adrenaline filled world of violence into the normal calmness. The slayer stood triumphantly above his fallen opponent. Blood was leaking from the twin axes at his sides, and Sangur breathed heavily as the red pool was formed at his feet.

Blood God had been honored on the altar of battle. An enemy champion lay dead while the Blood God's own champion stood strong. The favor of the War God could be felt by Sangur before the exaltation of victory was pushed away by the pain no longer kept away by violence.

Sangur took couple of steps before crouching next to the body. He stored his axes to hang from the armor of his back, before reaching downwards with his hand. His fingers grasped the handle of the fallen warrior's chainsaw, lifting the trophy weapon up from the blood soaked floor of the train car.

"...Nice weapon..."

* * *

The lead cart was ruined. Ceruleon looked around, Nox not far behind him. Blood splatters were covering half of the space, and all the control panels were broken beyond salvation. He leaned in and tapped one of the buttons that let out only a tiny spark in response.

"Well that at least solves the dilemma whether to stop the train or not," Ceruleon mused as he turned to face Nox. "No stopping it now."

"Would you have stopped it if the controls were operational?" Nox asked as he inspected one of the torn bodies.

"Maybe. Maybe not. Azuhrius would have made the call," Ceruleon replied. "It should be fine to let it reach the city."

Nox's head perked up. "The city? This train is going to Vale?"

"Yes" Ceruleon confirmed. "White Fang intended to use it to crash and breach the integrity of the walls by going under them, opening a path for the Grimm."

Nox looked around the train cart. "Why? What do they hope to achieve? I know terrorism, I am a professional, and this does not seem like mindless act of aggression." A expression of realization flashed on Nox's face and he answered his own question. "It is the fear. This whole plan of the animals is to cause fear."

Ceruleon nodded. "It is provocation. The White Fang and the people pulling their strings wish to create a sense of danger, to make the Kingdom act, to react. To set a stage for escalation."

Nox understood the situation, Ceruleon could see it in the black eyes. Nox was much clever than he let on, he needed to be kept an eye on.

"And you don't wish to stop this "provocation"?" Nox inquired. "It plays to your advantage?"

"It will set the stage as I said. And the consequences will play to our advantage. We will make sure they will." Ceruleon said before his attention was captured by something else. "You might want to hold on to something…"

Orchid pulled his way up to the roof of the car, adjusting himself to the strong air current created by the fast moving train. There were signs of battle around, couple of lost weapon stuck on the roof, scotch and impact marks, even a single knocked out White Wang member hanging in a gab between two cars where the air pull was not able rip him loose.

As he straightened up and turned to gaze at the tail of the train, he was shown a view of a black wave of monsters.

Grimm. A lot of them. A giant mob of multiple different soulless creatures was coming after the train in the distance. They had no hope of catching the train, but that did not stop them for coming after it. And following wherever the train was headed.

But the monsters were instantly forgotten as Orchid's attention was totally captured by a single small figure leaping across the few last cars of the train, elegant umbrella in her small hands.

"Stop!" Orchid yelled, starting to make his way after the pink white brown clothed female.

The short girl reached the end of the last car, pulled to a stop, and turned her head to look behind her. Orchid could see even from that distance a pair of brown eye turn into a mismatch of white and pink.

The female teetered on the edge of the last car, clearly in intend of jumping of the train, despite the tide of Grimm coming after them. Orchid did not doubt for a second that she would not be able to slip past the creatures and escape without a scratch.

"Don't go!" Orchid screamed.

The tiny umbrella female smiled, winking with her soft pink eye.

Then she jumped off the train, her umbrella opening up to cut off her speed.

Only couple of seconds later everything around Orchid exploded with huge impact tremors and noise, and Orchid was thrown of his feet. He was lost to the mercy of the world of chaos, and could feel his Aura buckling under storm of random impacts as he was thrown through maelstrom of crumbling rock and breaking metal. The sensation was actually too sudden and too extreme for him to quite realize what was happening around him. First there was blackness, and then suddenly bring light of the day. Then he stopped moving, and finally the world got back on track. Unlike the train.

Orchid lifted his head from a pile of rubble and stone dust, staring at the twilight hued sky with shaking gaze. He looked around with some puzzlement. There was a city around him, some buildings in pristine condition, others showing damage of being impacted by debris and wreckage. Some were crumbling apart as he watched. A siren was screaming somewhere in the distance, filling the air with steady indication of alarm.

Slowly, the realization of what had happened hit him, and he cried out in frustration and disappointment as he ripped himself free of the rocks he was half buried underneath.

He was in Vale. The train had crashed and broken into the city. Orchid turned on his feet and could see a giant hole in what must once have been buildings. And the massive black tide that was rippling through it into the city,

Still screaming, still fuming, Orchid clenched his sword and charged right towards them. He could feel the Aura exhaustion from all the hits he had taken from the earth shattering impact, but he did not care. He just wanted to get in and shred the monsters to shreds.

The first Ursa out of the breach got a very nasty surprise as screaming Orchid leaped up and latched into it's face, driving Malevolence right through the bone mask, before pulling it back and stabbing the head over and over again, mutilating the beast with his vengeful attack full of fury.

"YOU FUCKING FILTHY XENOS!"

* * *

Sangur ripped the metal bar aside, growling as he pushed away all the metal wreckage around him. The impact had send him bouncing around the car, and then the train had twisted around him, trapping him in metallic pocket filled with metal wreckage. There were small holes all around the hull of the trashed car, and a rays of sunlight were streaming in from the wounds in the metal.

With a loud bang, Sangur hit his head what had once been the floor of the car, and he let out more growls as his chainaxe came free and sliced at the offending surface, leaving a long scar but not penetrating the hull fully.

Sangur was just about to strike again with the intent of breaking free from the metal prison, but he did not get the change before there were loud screeches of grinding metal, and the roof hatch that was now facing downwards ahead of him was cut from it seams by long silvery claws.

Nox pushed his upper body into the car, looked around and spotted Sangur. "There you are. I was sure I heard a sound of a chainaxe from here." Nox pulled himself up into the car, slicing apart anything that was blocking his way inside. "You should have jumped off the train before the impact. Were you too busy with killing to notice that rails were ending?"

Sangur only grunted in response as Nox cut down last of the buckled metal, finally letting him straighten himself.

Another head popped in through the hatch after Nox. "We need to get going," The Second Serpent said. "The Grimm are running rampant, and it is only a matter of time before every huntsman and police officer on this side of Vale gets here."

Sangur's head perked up. "The Grimm are here?" Now that he listened, he could actually hear sounds from outside. Howls, screams, gunshots. Sounds of battle. And he lived for battle.

"I am going to kill them," he muttered as he headed towards the hatch. "The Blood God desires more bloodshed. I must deliver." His movement caused the large chainsaw he had taken from the dead White Fang champion to fall to his feet, but he did not pick it up. He would come to get it after the slaughter. Right now he needed to go.

"No, we are getting out of here!" Nox said as his grabbed Sangur's shoulder with his talons. "We are officially supposed to be on a guard mission the other side of the wall. I don't want to get caught up in this mess."

Sangur was only half listening. The Nails had been calmer because of the impact. But the sound of battle was making them restless again, and now they were screaming screaming for violence even more potently. They needed blood. War God needed blood. He needed blood. "I… must slaughter them…" was the only answer his mouth managed to make, despite him trying to answer Nox with better reasoning. He wanted to say it would be okay, he wanted to say it would work out in the end, but the Nails clouded his mind, screaming for blood and skulls.

"Let's get on top of the wall and watch as the Grimm wrack havoc," Nox pleaded. "We can watch the fight from there. Let's watch this city burn for the short while it will last. Come with us, don't make them wonder why you are here and not on a perimeter guard mission."

"Nox..." Sangur muttered. "Let me go…" He was asking for Nox's permission, despite the agony in his brain demanding him to disregard Nox and join the battle. His left hand spasmed involuntarily, causing him to press the trigger of Skalathrax, filling the car with roars of metal teeth. "Let me go… Nox..."

Nox stared with his obsidian eyes, holding on to Sangur's shoulder for a long moment. A moment that seemed like an eternity in the agonizing stillness, but Sangur still waited despite of the pain. Then Nox released his grip with yielding eyes.

"Orchid is already in the fight, Sangur joining in can't cause much more damage," Second Serpent inputted before he stepped out of the away as Sangur jumped towards the hach. "Fortunately our perimeter guard mission is literally on the other side of the wall."

Sangur crawled out from the hatch, pulling his other chainaxe from his back and gunning both of them hungrily.

"Remember, if anybody asks, you just got over the wall to help with the situation!" the brother of Azuhrius yelled after him, but Sangur was already sprinting towards the nearest black from of a creature of Grimm, nothing but pulsing redness in his eyes and mind.

"BLOOOD!" he roared as he cleaved the xeno's head from the body without slowing down, already going for the next kill, Skalathrax in his grip howling with him. "FOR THE BLOOOD GOOOOOOOD!"

* * *

Nox was standing on top of the Kingdom wall, staring down as ever more numerous growing number of huntsmen and Atleasian forces put an end to the Grimm filth that had broken through the breach. They were effective, and now even outnumbered the remaining Grimm. The situation would be over as suddenly as it had emerged.

Ceruleon was standing next to him, gazing at the defence operation with a faint smile on his face. "Everything went better than expected," He retorted, and Nox grudgingly agreed inside.

Things could have gone much worse. Ceruleon had covered their asses by contacting the huntress who had been tasked with "leading" them, and convinced her that Team ASON had been near the wall all the time and joined in containing the breach when the sirens had started blaring. Cherr had not kept an track of them at all, and so there was really nobody who could prove they had been on the train. Nox just hoped none of the Team RWBY had caught sight of Sangur or Orchid during the train ride, that was not something that could be explained as easily.

"What did you get out of this?" Nox asked, unsure what the whole point of Azuhrius little operation had been. They clearly had not been there to stop any of the White Fang's plans. "What was the point of all this hassle?"

Ceruleon smirked. Nox had noticed he tended to smile much more than his brother. "Azuhrius was interested in some of the assets of the White Fang. He wanted to take away some of their walking metal boxes, so he came up with his operation." Ceruleon glanced at Nox. "He has a habit of wanting things others have. I am seriously concerned he is one day going to travel north, see the Kingdom of Atlas and say 'I want that'."

Nox huffed. Azuhrius had ambitions, even if Nox was not sure what they were, Azuhrius was not exactly the most open person, especially about his goals. He was always looking into the future, always looking at the next thing to empower himself. Nox was sure that one day, sooner or later, the snake would choke on his own aspirations. Every Legionnaire who dared to dream big always did eventually.

"Where is Azuhrius by the way. I did not see him on the train," Nox asked, turning away when he got bored to looking at the final mop up operations. He would need to go get Sangur out of there soon, before anybody would start asking question that might make Sangur slip something. He just hoped nobody had paid any attention to his battle cries for the Blood God.

"He is in Mountain Glenn, taking care of the rewards of his hard work. I will join him there after I get things settled here. You guys can just head back to the academy once this mess in resolved, he will meet you there." Ceruleon turned on his feet. "Remember to grab Orchid with you when you head back. I need to go make some preparations... for sneaking out of this Kingdom in full alert."

"What preparations you need? Should be easy with that Semblance of you snakes. You can just walk away and nobody can see you leave," Nox said as he started walking towards the lifts to the high walls that would take him down, Ceruleon walking beside him.

"Are you referring to the invisibility?" Ceruleon asked with a quirky smile. "I cannot do that unlike Azuhrius."

NoX raised his eyebrows. What the hell was this guy talking? All the brothers of the same Legion shared a common Semblance, no exceptions. "What? I was sure being invisible like a ghost was the Semblance of the XXth."

"Oh no, not at all," Ceruleon said, his smile widening.

"What do you do then? And don't tell me it is a secret or I will throw you down from this wall," Nox growled.

"We create one perfect clone of ourselves," Ceruleon answered calmly.

It took a moment for Nox to prces what he had just heard, and it made him stop like he had just walked into a wall, his mind suddenly full of 'what'. But he was sure he had seen Azuhrius turn invisible. He was absolutely sure of it. What… What…

Nox turned to look at Ceruleon, slowly. "Does… Does Azuhrius exist?"

Ceruleon looked upwards thoughtfully for a second. "Yes… I guess it could be said he does…"

* * *

 **Hope you liked this train wreck of a chapter. There should be one more chapter before the end of Volume 2. Just few more things to tie up before that.**

 **I heard the next episode of 'The World Of Remnant' is going to be about the Great War. I sure hope it is not too different from what I have imagined, hopefully there is still plot room in the canon for my Horus Heresy.**

 **Leave a review, if you feel it in your heart, and have a nice day.**


	29. Chapter 28

**Hi, I am Nemris, you might have heard of me. And I have here the last chapter of V2 of Chaos is the Prize. I have a lot of things to talk about at the end of this chapter, so get reading and I will see you there.**

* * *

 **Chaos is the Prize Chapter 28**

 _ **"We are what we pretend to be, so we must be careful what we pretend to be."**_

 _ **-**_ _ **Kurt Vonnegut**_

Ruins. Buildings either broken or never even completed in the first place. Eroded by time, nature and the Grimm. Mountain Glenn was pitiful shade of what it was meant to be. What it failed to be.

"When you look around you, what do you see?" Ceruleon asked suddenly as the two of them walked through the ruins of Mountain Glenn, stretching out in every direction around them.

Orchid glanced at the identical brother of Azuhrius, thinking to himself why he would ask such a thing, and why from him. Orchid remained silent for a moment, allowing his gaze to wander the broken buildings and deserted streets, erosion of time apparent wherever he looked. "I see the weakness of the lesser Kingdoms," Orchid replied finally. "I see how they are incapable of taking this land from the Xenos. Their ways are feeble and impotent, and they are incapable of even seeing their own folly. They are without spirit and strength. Too weak to expand, too weak to conquer."

Ceruleon nodded as sign of understanding but did not say anything in return immediately. "And yet it is their Kingdoms that stand while our Empire lies in ashes…" he finally replied.

They walked for another while in silence, until they saw a tall metallic gray form behind one of the buildings. They headed towards it, closing in on the immobile Paladin and the blue haired person resting against one of its massive legs. Orchid did not think too much of the warmachine, but seeing the Legionnaire in its feet made him smile.

"Brother," Ceruleon greeted Azuhrius who nodded in return.

Then he Azuhrius turned his gaze to Orchid. "I thought I said Orchid could already return to the school with the others," he said but his tone indicated he did not care that much.

"I told him he could head back, but he insisted coming with me," Ceruleon shrugged.

"Any problems in the city?" Azuhrius asked but Ceruleon was already shaking his head. "Everything seems to be good. The breach was swiftly contained and taken care of. None of our movements seem to have catched anyone's attention, so everything should fine. The all threads have been tied up, so the operation is officially over." Ceruleon smirked. "All things considered, everything went better than expected. Unless Nox or Sangur messed up something that I am not aware of or they have done something drastic after leaving my supervision."

"Nox would not do anything like that," Azuhrius declared with confidence. "He is somehow collared by Ozpin and will not stray too far or visibly from his leash in fear of the Headmaster taking notice. And he will keep Sangur in check as well. To the best of his abilities."

Orchid snorted. The brute was not in check, not truly. He had just not gotten loose too badly so far, but it was only a matter of time. Orchid had been careful since they enrolled into beacon, because he understood that if the situation escalated, there were hundreds of enemies around them. He was not stupid enough to face such odds. Same could not be said about Sangur. Savage followers of the Blood God were not famous for their ability to retreat in front of unbeatable odds, especially in front of unbeatable odds

Though Orchid could probably take on the whole school now that the thought more carefully, teachers and students alike. How hard could it be for someone of his might?

Orchid looked up at the huge battle mech in front of him. "So, you managed to get yourself one of these Paladin things." He said, though he could not really see how such a machine would have much worth.

"No," Azuhrius said as the ground shook with series of tremors, growing more intense as their source got closer. "I got three."

* * *

"Ah, you are back," Nox remarked as Azuhrius and Orchid stepped through the door of their dorm room. "Took you long enough."

"I just had to finalize some minor things about the unfortunate Grimm incursion that happened some hours ago," Azuhrius replied. "All our alibis should be in order so there should be nothing to worry about. I even got you a nice explanation why your scroll broke."

"Well that is nice to hear. I like when there is nothing to worry about," Nox murmured with a hint of relief. He had been worried that since things got really out of hand, somebody might question ASON's involvement is some way. He had nearly panicked when he had received an invitation to Ozpin's office for later this evening.

"Where is Sangur?" Azuhrius asked.

"Not sure," Nox shrugged. "He might be at the weapon workshops, he said he had something to do there with some new trophy he just found. "Nox stared at Azuhrius with intense eyes. "Azuhrius, if you would not mind, I have something to ask of you. Like, not here," Nox informed as he motioned towards the door.

Azuhrius looked at him with observing eyes for a moment before nodding. He turned and headed back to the door, and Nox jumped after him.

"So, what is it?" Azuhrius asked as he Nox stepped out from a door to the roof of the dorm building.

Nox took a deep breath before turning to face Azuhrius. "It concerns you "brother"."

"Did he tell you to call him Chief Apothecary? Don't mind that, he does that to everybody." Azuhrius said.

"No, it is not that. Though he did tell me that as well." Nox waved his hand dismissively. "It is about the Semblance of the XXth Legion…"

Azuhrius raised one of his blue brows.

"Azuhrius… are you a Semblance clone of Ceruleon…" Nox asked with stern face and serious voice.

Azuhrius was quiet for a moment. "What makes you ask that?"

"Ceruleon said that the Semblance of the XXth is to create perfect clone of the Legionnaire. I know that you do turn invisible, not create anyone out of thin air. Are you a clone that can disappear when you choose because you don't really exist?"

Azuhrius sounded a bit offended when he replied. "Gods of the Warp, Nox. When I tell you something, you doubt and don't believe anything straight away. But when my brother, who you literally just met, tells you something like this, you believe him instantly…"

Nox's eyes widened. What it can't be... "What are you saying…"

Azuhrius looked at him with disappointed face. "He trolled you. Hard."

Nox was silent for a long moment, his slightly confused mind going through what Azuhrius had just said. Then finally he opened his mouth. "THAT. SON. OF. A. SPAWN!"

* * *

"Why are you here?" Nox asked as he and Orchid stepped into the elevator.

"I have a meeting with the headmaster." Orchid replied as Nox hit the button that would lead them to the office of the said leader of the school.

"Concerning what?" Nox asked as the floor number changed rapidly with their ascension.

"Nothing important, don't mind about it."

Orchid had wished for a meeting because he needed Ozpin's help with something. The headmaster had told him to arrive with Nox since the two of them would be meeting anyway for some reason. Orchid would just wait until until Nox was done with his business.

The doors of the elevator opened, revealing the office of the headmaster and the man himself, sitting on his strange chair and a coffee mug in his hand. The white haired man raised his gaze from something he had been reading, and nodded at the two boys walking into his sanctum.

"Mister Deimos, Mister Sonus, good to see you. Sorry for not meeting you sooner, I have my hands quite full with the recent Grimm attack, as you might imagine."

"You had some business with me?" Nox asked with a rather worried look on his face, clearly fearing Ozpin had found out something that the Legionnaire would have wanted to remain in the dark.

Orchid waited calmly his turn on the side, observing both Nox and Ozpin.

"Yes," Ozpin said as he rose from his chair and made his way around the table, holding something in his hand. "I heard from your team leader of the unfortunate fate of the Scroll I had provided you with."

Nox seemed somehow relieved and concerned in a new way at the same time.

"A very strange accident, but mister Lernaean was quite sure and convincing it was not your fault and there was little any of you could have done about it."

Orchid nodded. "Sloths are brutal," He said with a serious face. Both Nox and Ozpin glanced at him with raised brows.

"As the scrolls are extremely important part of everyday life," Ozpin continued as he offered the device he was holding to Nox. "And part of the huntsman equipment, I prepared you another one as soon as I heard of your loss."

Nox took his new scroll, with no hint of appreciation on his face, quite the opposite. "Thanks you…" He said anyway, and looked like he would have been perfectly fine without the device.

"You are welcome," Ozpin said with a smile, before turning around and returning to sit behind his desk.

"Sooo… That was all?" Nox asked with a hint of surprise. "Can I go now?"

"Yes, that was it. Unless there is something you would like to tell me?" Ozpin said with his all of his fingers resting together in a mirroring position.

"No, nothing," Nox said before he turned around, and heading for the elevator.

Orchid was just about to take a center of the turn, but he stopped as he heard Nox's voice from the door of the elevator.

"Umm, headmaster… Why is this this Scroll different on the inside than the last one?"

"Oh, it just has a different operating system, nothing more," Ozpin replied.

Orchid could see the turmoil behind Nox's obsidian eyes as his brain processed the words ' _New operating system'_ and the horror those words contained.

The elevator doors closed, sealing behind them the empty eyed Nox who just blankly stared at his new communication device that he would have to learn to use.

"Now then," Orchid heard Ozpin's words and turned to face the headmaster. "You had something you wanted to discuss with me mister Sonus."

"Yes." Orchid replied. "It concerns my team and the coming Vytal tournament.

"Oh? What is it?"

"The rest of my team have informed me of their unwillingness to participate. None of them want to take part in the grand tournament. No one but me. And since I have no team with me, that poses a problem for my participation." Orchid could not understand how the others could pass such an opportunity to prove one's skill and superiority in front of an adoring audience. Orchid would have killed for such an opportunity. Or give up drugs... for several minutes!

"Really, most Team ASON does not want to participate? I am rather surprised, I thought that you would be among the first on the applying list. I guess I was wrong." Ozpin adjusted his glasses. "Why is this exactly? I can't see why Azuhrius would not want his team to take part, or why Nox or Sangur would not want to test their skills in the competition."

"Sangur… does not like the nature of the tournament," Orchid said with twisted lips. "And Nox does not want to face strong opponents cause he is afraid he will get his ass kicked or something. He does not really feel like he is good enough for such a competition. And Azuhrius says he is busy and that he has no time nor interest in the whole thing."

"Hmm," Ozpin rubbed his chin, turning his head and looking thoughtfully out of the window. "I can actually understand Nox. Not so much Sangur. And Azuhrius, that boy always has so much in his mind. So many things to occupy his attention…"

"He always has," Orchid agreed without really thinking.

"He such a brilliant student, I knew it from the first moment I met him," Ozpin continued. "He is showing such promise. Not only as a huntsman. It is such a shame I don't really like him. I don't like the way he looks at my nice chair, like he imagines himself sitting on it."

"He is smart, yes," Orchid said, unsure what the headmaster had on his mind.

"Would you say he is smarter than you?" Ozpin asked as he turned to look at Orchid again.

"Yes," Orchid replied without a moment of hesitation.

Ozpin nodded in acknowledgement. "Is he smarter than Nox?"

"Yes."

Ozpin nodded again and looked upwards at the giant clockwork above them. "Is he smarter than me?"

"Yes," Orchid said again.

"I see," Ozpin replied, and took another long, thoughtful pause. "Well, I am sure we can find some kind of solution for your tournament problem. Let's give it some thought."

* * *

"This is getting out of hand. Now there is two of them!" Nox growled as he kept walking in circles next to the workbench of the weapon workshop that Sangur was using. "I can't deal with more XXth Legion in my life."

"Then kill one of them," Sangur provided his simple suggestion. "Killing, that's what I do when I can't deal with things. And I can't deal with a lot of things." Sangur though it should have been the obvious course of action.

"I can't, that is what is so vexing. I need the other here or Ozpin is going to start wondering where the hell one of his students went. And Azuhrius is going to throw a fit if I rip Ceruleon's smug head off." Nox sighed. "Well, at least that fucking "Chief Apothecary" is going to go back to Terra now. Hopefully I don't see him a long while."

Nox stopped and clawed the floor with his metallic legs. "I just really hate how they always have to have a plan for everything. They can never let the chips just fall where they may. And even when they do seem to do that, one must always make sure to ask the chips who they are in case the chips reply they are Alpharius."

Sangur grunted in understanding as he raised the two-handed chainsaw he had been working with. A roughly crafted brand new brass symbol depicting a stylized skull was now gleaming in its side. "Needs bigger teeth…" Sangur muttered as he lifted the weapon up to admire it.

Nox huffed. "Here in Beacon you actually might find someone to modify the weapon, and the resources to do it. Unlike in Terra. Ceruleon mentioned they are is a really bad shape when it comes to equipment maintenance, like more than before we left. Did you know they have no mature Salamanders or Iron Hands left?"

"New ones will grow." Sangur commented as he put the chainsaw away.

"They will..." Nox muttered as he paced back and forth again. "You know, part of me says to just let Ceruleon get away with fucking with me like he did. It was not really anything big, no real harm done…"

"But?" Sangur asked. He could feel the 'but' coming.

Nox grinned with a mix of coldness and cruelty. "But revenge is always sweet…"

Sangur nodded. "And Chaos is the-"

* * *

Gavin was sitting where Mrs. Coral had told him to wait, barely moving on the chair that was too big and too soft. His hands were squeezed against his knees, and his eyes were cast downwards. He was very nervous. It was not like he had not been in this office before, but this time was a completely special occasion. He was waiting a visitor.

Who was this visitor? Gavin had no idea. Mrs. Coral had informed him that whoever was going to see him any minute now was supposedly Gavin's distant relative who had recently turned up. Gavin had no idea who it was. This was the first time since all his time at the orphanage since anyone had found someone who shared family ties with Gavin. When his parents died, there had not been a single relative who could be contacted. So now that someone had turned up it was a great surprise, especially to Gavin himself.

There was a sound of a turning door handle, and the noise startled Gavin who's eyes instantly moved to the door to his right. Gavin tried his best not to look like a frightened child, but his nervousness did not allow him to stop all the shaking of his feet and fast beats of his heart.

"Gavin, sorry for the wait" Mrs. Coral said with a kind smile she always had as she entered the room, coming right to Gavin and placing her hand over Gavin's. "Are you nervous?" She asked, clearly seeing it from his face.

Gavin nodded slightly, then tilted his head as he tried to look past Mrs. Coral to the door.

"No need to be, everything is okay, nothing to worry about," She said with a soothing voice that managed to calm his rapidly beating heart. She turned and motioned the two people standing behind her to step in. She stepped aside, giving Gavin a good view of of them.

"Hello, Gavin." Said a blue haired boy in some sort of military uniform. The girl with long black hair behind him did not say anything, only smiled with soft but strangely doll like expression. She was wearing fully black clothes, smooth jacket and matching long pants. She had a black scarf around her neck and long, knee high boots at her feet.

"Mrs. Coral, would you mind getting me those documents we spoke of? You can give them to my friend while I get to know little Gavin here," The boy spoke without looking at Mrs. Coral with his green eyes. His gaze was nailed to Gavin.

"Oh, of course. I will go get them and I will get us a some tea while I am at it," Mrs. Coral said before she turned towards the door. "I will be right back, Gavin. Keep company to our guest while I am gone." She walked out of the room, the black haired girl proceeding to follow after her through the door, closing it behind them.

Gavin turned his attention to the blue haired boy who sat down opposite of him on the other side of the small table between them at the center of the room.

After sitting down the boy just observed Gavin for a long moment. "It is a pleasure to meet you, Gavin. I have been looking forward to meeting you for a very long time." The boy smiled. "I am Alpharius, but please call be Chief Apothecary for now."

"Hello…" Gavin said after a second of hesitation. "Alpharius… what color meaning does the name have, I can't tell?"

"It does not have one to my knowledge," The boy replied with amusement.

Huh, a name without a color? That was rear. Gavin did not know anyone with a name lie that.

"And you said you are a… Chief Apothecary?"Is that like a doctor?" Gavin glanced at the military uniform the boy was wearing "Or a medic?"

"You know what a medic is?" the boy asked with some curiosity. Maybe he was surprised that a eight year old child knew such a word.

"My grandfather was a medic during the war," Gavin explained. Grandfather had told him a lot of things, and the war was one thing he had often talked about.

Alpharius moved his lips musingly. "Well, an Apothecary is not totally dissimilar from doctor or medic."

"What is the difference?" Gavin asked.

"A doctor heals people. Medic just makes them more comfortable while they die. And an Apothecary harvests their precious organs after they are dead."

"I see." Gavin said.

Alpharius chuckled.

"Are you a soldier?" Gavin asked. He was rather sure Vale did not have a military defense force. "Or a huntsman?"

"Yes, something along those lines."

Gavin nodded. He found his nervousness vanishing and his curiosity growing. "Have you ever killed a monster?"

"Do you mean a creature of Grimm?" the boy asked, not showing any signs of irritation for Gavin's curiosity.

"Yes."

"I have. Many times."

"What is the biggest Grimm you have ever seen?"

Alpharius let out a small laugh as he glanced upwards thoughtfully. "Most certainly a Squiggoth."

"What is a Squiggoth? How big is it?"

"Ah yes, you don't have those around here. Well, Sguiggoth is comparable to a Goliath, they are on average about the same size."

"Did you kill it? The Squiggoth?"

"Oh no, no I did not."

Gavin was about to ask what kind of weaponry this Chief Apothecary used, but then he realized he was taking the topic away from the reason Alpharius was here.

"So… are you related to me in some way," Gavin asked. Mrs. That was what this meeting was about.

"No, I am not… yet," Alpharius replied.

Gavin was not sure what he meant by that, but before he managed to ask anything further, the door opened, and the girl with long black hair that had arrived with Alpharius walked in, alone.

"Gavin, this is Miusta," Alpharius said as he motioned with his hand at the girl. "Say hi."

"Hello," Gavin said to the girl.

"Hello, Gavin, so good to meet you finally," the girl said with a smile as she nodded to Gavin. Then she proceeded to move move to stand behind Alpharius' chair. She leaned over it as spoke to the boy who tilted his ear to her direction. "72 children. 41 are boys. 24 are of suitable age," she told him.

Alpharius nodded in understanding. "Good. We will come for them later."

Gavin frowned, glancing at the door. "Where is Mrs. Coral?"

"She is taking a nap." Alpharius said, rising to his feet. "Well then, I guess we should get going. There is a long trip ahead of us."

"You are leaving already?" Gavin asked. But they had just arrived.

" _We_ are leaving. You are coming with us," Alpharius replied as he motioned Gavin to get up from his seat.

Gavin did not move. "I don't think we can, don't we need to talk to Mrs. Coral?" He was starting to feel something was wrong.

"No we don't. Everything has been taken care of, don't worry. Everything will be explained in time. For now all, you need to do is do as I say."

Gavin still did not move from his seat. He squeezed the armrests of the chair. "Why?" he asked.

"Why what?" Alpharius asked as he approached Gavin with calm steps.

"Why are you doing this? What are you doing?" Gavin was starting to feel a little scared, but he pushed away the raising dread. At least he tried to.

The Chief Apothecary smirked. "For the…" Then he seemed to change his mind about whatever he had been about to say." Well, maybe it is too early for that." He stopped next to Gavin's chair, looming over him. "As for what are we doing, we are taking you to somewhere. Somewhere where you will become something."

"What… what will I become?" Gavin asked with slightly trebling lower lip.

The green eyes gleamed. "Someone who Fate has plans for. Maybe. One can never know for certain." He smiled again. "Someone who is able to do what is expected of him."

The fear was slowly spreading in Gavin's mind. He did not understand what the boy was saying. He did not understand what was going on. He wanted Mrs. Coral to come back. "What are you asking of me?"

Alpharius crouched, lowering himself to eye level with Gavin. "What the Legion asks of us all..." He said softly, almost whispering. "Everything…"

Gavin felt a sting of pain, and as he looked down he noticed a small, tiniest drop of blood on his wrist, and saw the boy's hand pull back from the tiny red spot. Almost immediately Gavin started feeling tired. He felt his thoughts growing murky and his eyelids heavy. He slumped against the chair, a strange wave of relaxation and numbness washing over his body.

"What will you become?" Gavin heard a whisper in his ears, echoing Gavin's question from a moment ago. He saw the gleaming green eyes hazily in front of him. "You will become... Alpharius..."

* * *

 **And that is the end of Volume 2, hope you enjoyed it. A lot happened, new Legionnaires were introduced, and nobody got hurt. Those who died did die fast so they don't count. And the death counter is only getting higher in the future, I can promise you that. Blood for the Blood God and all that.**

 **How many of you believed that clone thing about the XXth Legion Semblance that Ceruleon said last chapter? Did I not just while ago told you not to believe anything anyone aligned with Chaos says?! (I can say Azuhrius is the one speaking the truth about this matter. I guarantee it, this information is from a reliable inside source, I am close with the author...)**

 **Now that the age of Volume 2 is behind, we are entering the age of Volume 2.5. It is a short age depicting original events that happen between Volumes 2 and 3. Some canon characters will make an appearance, but mostly we will be focusing on the Legionnaires. All of them. What is coming next will be about what kind of Shenanigans the Legions of Terra come up with between Volumes. Most of the Volume should be taking place outside of Vale. Much attention is given to the Legionnaires that reside in Terra, and new Legionnaires will be introduced. _Most_ of the mature Legionnaires, as well as some immature Legionnaires, of this story will make an appearance before the start of Volume 3. That is about 5 or so full grown Legionnaires at least. I hope you look forward to meeting them. **

**Now then, as you are aware after that we have Volume 3. The tournament Volume. And I need some competitors. So if there is anyone who would like to give me a none-Legionnaire OC for this story, let me know in a PM and we can discuss the details. I need at least one full team of Huntsmen or Huntresses in training that would take part in the tournament. I might need to twist their names slightly to apply the color rule, but hopefully that wont be necessary. But they will not have much Plot Aura so don't expect them to make into the finals. If nobody is interested I will just come up with them my own, it is all same to me really.**

 **Let's talk about songs. I have been connecting songs with my story for a long time. I have selected a theme song for pretty much every single Legionnaire of this story, including the ones that have not made appearance yet, as well as some other OC's of my. Then I have like over 10 theme songs generally for Adeptus Venatores as a whole, as well as couple for Chaos. If anybody is interested in hearing what songs I have chosen, PM me or just say so in a review. But this means I have also selected "ending theme" songs for my Chaos is the Prize Volumes. I already know what songs will be the ending themes for Volume 3, but for this volume I have selected two, coincidentally, RWBY songs that I think depict Venatores rather well. These two are "Die" and "Sacrifice" (the latter also happens to be the canon ending song of the Volume 2...) I just think their lyrics could be telling about Venatores with some imagination. _Reap the seed..._**

 **Okay, was that all I had to say? I think so. Thank you so much for all the support and reviews you guys have given me so far, they mean a lot to me. Keep up the good work ;) See you guys in Volume 2.5.**


	30. Chapter 29

**Well damn, there was suppose to be so much stuff in this chapter, but the dream sequence became kinda lengthy, the chapter almost wrote itself when I really got started. So I decided just to leave everything else for the next time. So here we have the first chapter that has nothing but a dream in it. But it is a kind heavy dream.**

* * *

 **Chaos is the Prize Chapter 29**

 ** _"Because we are brothers. We've seen primarchs die to blade and fire, and we've seen our actions set the galaxy aflame. We've betrayed others and been betrayed in kind. We're bleeding for an uncertain future, fighting a war for the lies our lords tell us. What do we have left, if not blood's loyalty? I am here because you are here. Because we are brothers."_**

 **-Jago Sevatarion of the Night Lords**

Ruby's surroundings followed a similar theme this time as well. Dark corridors of half smoke like stone walls or carved bedrock. There was no apparent light source, yet still she was somehow able to see everything but for the darkest corners. She really disliked those corners, she always felt like someone was watching from there, just out of her sight.

But what was different this time from all the previous dreams, were the sounds. Before, there had always been eery silence before Nox appeared sooner or later from somewhere. Now there were loud noises echoing through the corridor she was on, causing her to turn to on her heels.

There were four figures running towards her along the corridor, barking and grunting at each other things that Ruby could not catch due to the distance. Most of the noise was not coming from them however, but from something or somethings behind them. She could hear roars and screeches, animalistic noises that she did not have to guess long the origin of. Creatures Grimm were rather easy to separate from regular animals based on the sounds, no fauna were quite as loud or malicious sounding.

The four figures reached Ruby, not recognizing her existence in any way, and as they ran past her, she turned and started running after them, quickly catching up to them. Partly because she was not sure what she was suppose to do, partly because the sound of the following Grimm made her feel like staying behind was not the right course of action. She had surprisingly little difficulties running alongside with them, her movements did not seem to strain her at all, like no exercise was practiced by her musles. She reasoned since this was a dream, her actual body was not moving all, so it made sense she could not tire inside a dreamscape.

The four boys seemed run really fast, but Ruby had no trouble at all keeping up with the speed. The sounds of Grimm behind them seemed to grow more distant, and Ruby assumed they were slowly outrunning whatever creatures were catching them.

She looked at each of them, and found with a sudden light shock that they all looked almost exactly like Nox. They all had pitch black hair, same unnatural black eyes with no distinct iris, and a skin white as snow.

Ruby kept observing them, and she soon found that one of them was the actual Nox she knew. The metallic machine legs were a dead giveaway, none of the others had them. Nox also had one of his weapon talons in his right arm, as well as some kind of bulky backpack or something behind his shoulders.

Another strange thing she noticed that the other pair of Nox's Dike Talon was in the left hand of the boy running beside him, both boys bearing silver claws in opposing hands. The one running a bit ahead of the others was armed with a silvery scimitar, and the last one was armed with a long and slender metal bar that was sharp at both ends like a spear.

The one with a scimitar was cursing long litanies in a language Ruby did not recognize.

"Fucking Ultramarines…" The one with a spear growled. "Fucking Blood Angels… Fucking Word Bearers…"

"They send us here to die!" This time it was Nox who spoke, glancing behind the way they had come as he pressed on. "That defence was never intended to last, they just wanted us to stem the tide and buy them time."

"We will pay back," The one with the other pair of the Dike Talon grunted harshly. "If Urdin survives this breach I will rip his eyes out and eat them myself…"

"Do you guys hear tha-" The lead guy with the scimitar was cut off before finishing his sentence as the roof suddenly collapse, or more like shattered as something came through it.

There were cries of surprise, one of them coming from Ruby, as all of them made evasive maneuvers to the sides to avoid the black things that had bursted through the roof and now poured down into the corridor.

They were Grimm, that was clear from their inhuman forms and the bone masks Ruby managed to catch as she jumped past the creatures, even if they would not have been able to harm her. They were about the size of a Beowolf, but they were not furry, and they had four pairs of arms ending in long sharp claws. Ruby did get a better look at them, but the horrible screeching sounds they made made her skin crawl. And there were a lot of them.

Ruby was past their point of entry in the next moment, as were most of Nox look alikes. Most of them. One, the one who had been on the forefront of the group was lost in a sea of black bodies and sharp claws.

The rest of the group did not stop, but continued to run forwards away from the black beasts, heedless of their comrade.

"He is dead, leave him." The one with the spear barked as they sprinted away from the swarming tide. The screams of the one caught by the Grimm however echoed from behind them along the tunnel walls a good while before cutting off suddenly.

Ruby kept up with them, by instinct rather than any conscious reasoning. She could not have helped the boy assaulted by the Grimm even if she had tried to, this was only a dream, and a one she was not liking at all. She could still hear the boy's screams in her mind long after they had gone silent. Such a horrifying thing to hear.

"Fucking Xenos…" one of still running boys said, Ruby did not catch which one.

They went along the tunnel for a while, never turning from the path to any of the side corridors that opened on the sides. They also moved in silence, speaking very few words now that their numbers had reduced by one.

"We should take the next one on the right." The one with the two pointed spear spoke eventually. "We can get up from there, maybe reach the line Sangur, Slate and Grollo are holding. We pick Sangur with us before he is overwhelmed. That is of course if they have not ran off to somewhere to seek something to kill."

"They probably have," Nox grunted as a new pathway to left was seen ahead. "But true, we have to get out of this floor. The Grimm are everywhere. We need to collapse the way to these catacombs, they are not secure anymore."

Ruby rounded the corner behind Nox, and the screeched to a halt and then to instinctual dodge when she saw what awaited them in the new corridor. There were multiple surprised shrieks from the boys around her as a giant mandible of a Death Stalker sweeped at them with a tremendous force. They all evaded the giant monster's strike, but the attack catched one of the walls, taking with it a large portion of the wall. Stone rubble and dust was thrown everywhere, large junks of the roof coming down as the beast trashed around trying to hit its prey.

The tunnel behind Ruby collapsed completely, almost burying Nox and one of the other boys. Nox got out of the way of the worst rubble by slipping through the chaos with supreme show of agility. The other boy was not as lucky. He got hit by a giant chunk of rock four times his size, narrowly missing being buried under it. The hit had however been massive, but his Aura still endured. But even worse, it completely caused him to lose his balance for a moment. A decisive moment.

The Death Stalkers mandible came from the side, easily catching the disoriented boy between its scissor. The monster squeezed, and there was a horrible, barely audible scratching noise in the Air as the boy's little remaining Aura kept the mandibles from closing for few seconds. The pale boy sliced at the mandible holding him with his half of the Dike Talon, causing barely any damage. "Fuck my life…" he growled, before the monstrous mandible closed with a horrifying snap.

Ruby looked in horror as the boy's bisected dead remains were carelessly throw aside by the Death Stalker as it turned to focus on its other enemies.

The buy with a spear came about in a giant leap, ramming his spear from above through one of the creature's eyes. The monster let out a screech of pain as it clawed at its bone mask, but the spear wielder had already retreated away from the way of the beast's revenge.

Nox's talon flashed with lightning as he came from behind the with a vengeful war cry. He struck hard and true, driving all the his thunder sheathed claws into a joint on the beast back leg, almost ripping the spidery limb in two. He did not sop there, slashing at the next leg with a slash that went deep but did not completely credible that limb.

The Death Stalker came around in a spinning movement, thrusting its tail back for tremendous reach. Both of the remaining boys dodged effortlessly, one jumping on the tail while the other crouched under it. The spear wielder however realized his mistake too late as he landed on the tail, a second before it smashed into a wall of the cramped corridor. Rock splinters were flying everywhere again, and the boy went with them.

The Death Stalker displeyeed a great show of intelligence or instinct as it quickly spun around and drove both of its mandibles into the whole it had made with the tail, catching the pale boy since the cramped space had nowhere to dodge. The power of the attack was equivalent to the thing's size, and it completely crushed the boy between its mandibles and the hard solid rock. Ruby did not see if the boy survived since thick dust cloud clouded her vision as the beast retracted its limbs.

Nox was on its face in the next instant, his furious talons coming down again and again at the bright red eyes, cutting them away from the monster's face and throwing them away before going for the next orb. The thing had only one eye remaining when it manage to smash Nox away from its face, its face now a ruined crater in the bone mask. It screeched in rage, pain, or both as it went after Nox, who dodged and danced away before each of the clashing mandibles.

The Death Stalker only had one enemy remaining, so it was able to focus all its attention towards one target, one direction. Nox kept dodging, slashing at the hard mandibles but doing only superficial damage. He also did not have a lot of room for evading. Corridor like this was a nightmare for a fight against Death Stalker. The beast could make itself room by simply crushing the walls, allowing it to bring all its monstrous strength to fold, where as any smaller prey had minimal chances to dodge. It was looking really bad for Nox.

Suddenly a completely new voice filled the tunnel. "BLOOOD FOR THE BLOOD GOOOOOD!" echoed around Ruby, and suddenly there was a very furious looking boy on top of the Death Stalker, brutally hacking its bony neck with a pair of roaring chainaxes. Ruby looked with surprise at Sangur who had emerged from somewhere in Nox's dire moment.

The creature spasmed in pain, Sangur's axes shredding away now black exoskeleton in addition to the slitters of the pale bone armor, clearly cutting deep. The beast was starting to feel the weight of its wounds as it trashed rather uncontrollably rather than focusing on trying to remove the boy in its back.

Nox screamed in rage as he was now able to slip past the mandibles and jump on the beast head. He rammed his lightning kissed talon fist deep into the last remaining eye, and the started to pull upwards. Sangur roared as he jammed his grinding axes deep into the Death Stalkers neck, and with their combined the strength the boys wrenched at the thing's head.

The huge bone mask plate that was the thing's face came off with a sound of cracking exoskeleton and shredding meat. Nox and Sangur ripped the Grimm's head open, tossing half of it away in a shower of gore. The Death Stalker's trashing came to an sudden end, and it crashed down, unmoving. Suddenly everything was completely quiet in the ruined tunnel. Deathly quiet.

Nox and Sangur stood on top of the giant carcass they had made, breathing heavily without purpose as their enemy had suddenly stopped being alive. Nox sagged down, rubbing his head and then gazing around him. He jumped up almost immediately again, heading towards one of the holes that the Grimm had smashed into the walls. The one where the spear armed boy had been crushed by the Death Stalker.

Ruby followed, skipping past the rubble to see the fate of the boy now that the dust had settled down. She spotted a humanoid form laying in the middle of stone wreckage, and headed towards it, only for Nox to cut in front of her as he hurried to his fallen comrade.

Nox crouched down next to the boy, and Ruby came after him, taking in the injured person. He was half covered in stone dust that was ugly red with blood. His arms and legs were limp at his sides, some half buried under small rubble piles. But was breathing, drawing in wheezing breaths, and he turned his head towards Nox who loomed over him.

"I..." He wheezed, mouth half full with stony dust. "I… Really… Fucking… Hate Death Stalkers..." He coughed, spitting out the more dust and blood from his lungs. "Blood of the Night Haunter… I think I broke some bones. Big ones. You will have to carry me back to upper floors…"

"I will carry you." Nox said, not moving as he stared with his black eyes into another pair of obsidian pools in the pale face in front of him.

"Did… you kill it, brother?" the wounded boy asked as he blinked rapidly, trying to focus his gaze.

"I did. Sangur and I ripped the thing's head off."

"Sangur... is here?"

"Yes."

"Tell him… tell him that… his timing fuking sucked..." The boy chuckled and then coughed again. "I am going to kill them…" he muttered after he could speak again. "Those shits upstairs… those tho send us here…"

Nox only nodded.

"We... we will go up there, and then we will kill… kill so many of those fuckers." He spat out a glop of phlegm and blood out of his mouth. "I am had it… had it with so many of those wrenches… I suddenly feel like we are in need of some real culling…"

"We will rip their guts out, rend them limb from limb and hang their skulls from the chains of our chambers," Nox declared with a silent voice.

"Yes…. Yes…. we will do that. And then we will rebuild the Legion." The boy smiled, his eyes gleaming as he watched something only he seemed to see. "We… we will rise our numbers aagain. We kill the fuckign wreches and we take their resources, their recruits, and we make the VIIIth a true… true Legion again."

"We will," Nox replied without still doing anything else than looking at his fallen friend.

"Sangur will stand with us… the rest can go to Warp to see the fucking Gods… We will… We will leave this damned ruin of a kingdom behind. Fuck Sythonax... and fuck the pact of Terra… We will leave and make… make the… the Legion great again… We will do that, right? Are you with me, brother?"

"I am with you, brother," Nox assured. "Lead, and I will follow."

"We will make… us great again. We will will be mighty again… All of Remnant will fear us… We will remind of them of the children of the Lord of the Night… We will bleed the Kingdoms… we will bleed them dry…"

"We will bleed them, and they will fear us. Like they should be. We'll crush our enemies, bring them to their knees." Nox said.

"We… The Legion… The Legion, Nox…. The Legion!"

"Yes, the Legion, brother."

"We… we…" the boy took a deep breath. "We will be the Lords of the Night again!"

"We will... brother… We will."

The pale boy at Nox feet did not say anything anymore. Nor did he breathe again. Nox bowed his head.

Ruby watched with tears in her eyes as Nox remained next to his dead brother for a while, silently crouching next to the dust and blood covered corpse. Ruby wanted to say something, but she had no idea what to say. Expect… "I am sorry…" She said with a frail voice. She was not sure what she should have said, but that felt right.

Nox did not seem to hear her words. Of course, only a dream vision as he was. Finally Nox rose to his feet, pulling himself up from his mourning. He lifted something in his hand, and Ruby recognized it as the two pointed spear that the now dead boy had wielded. It was badly bend, totally twisted by the enormous force it had had to endure. It was a little more than a piece of mangled metal.

Nox throw the ruined weapon away, and turned. He marched back to Sangur who was still standing on top off the Death Stalker's carcass.

"Where are the others?" Sangur asked as he jumped down from the corpse.

"Dead." Nox grunted. "Otieno is in that hole over there..." He headed towards one of the rocks, and the he pulled up an upper half of a body from behind it. "Rajnish is right here..." Nox reached and grasped one of the dead bodies limp arms, the one holding the left half of Dike Talon. He slipped the weapon from the corpse's hand, dropped the body and then he slipped the claws into his own hand. Nox now wielded full Dike Talon, flexing the silvery blades in both of his hands before returning to Sangur. "And Shyama was taken by the Grimm way back in these corridors…"

"All of them are dead?" Sangur asked with a puzzled face.

"Yes, all of them. Just you and me now…" Nox grunted as a reply.

"So… what do we do now?" Sangur asked, waving his axes in his hand and looking somehow uncertain and lost.

"We…" Nox paused, looking up thoughtfully. "We… we leave going to leave Terra… are you with me?"

"Yes," Sangur replied without hesitation.

The two boys started walking forward along the tunnel, and Ruby attempted to follow them, but as she tried to take a step, a talon with long, nasty looking metal claws clasped her shoulder. She turned halfway around, finding another Nox behind her. A Nox much more focused on her.

"You know..." Nox growled with a very unfriendly expression. "I am starting to become really tired of you sneaking into my mind…" And then his other clawed hand flashed towards Ruby's throat.

* * *

 **What a jolly chapter to kick off 2.5. Sorry this took so long to come out, by my standards. I was working on Sons of Horus.**

 **The OC characters sending will be open until the end of 2.5, so you have until then if you want to have an huntsman or huntress OC in this story's Vytal tournament.**

 **Also, the story has Broken 100 reviews! Yay! Thank you so much guys. Only few more before we reach 40 000!**

 **Leave a review, if you feel it in your heart, and have a nice day.**


	31. Chapter 30

**So, I am back after a certain side project. It took longer than I imagined, but damn it was fun to try something like that. But now I can focus on my main story again. So many interesting things in the near future when we get to Terra again.**

 **This is one of _those chapters_ again, by the way.**

* * *

 **Chaos is the Prize Chapter 30**

 ** _"And I am proud to run a school that accepts individuals from all walks of life."_**

 ** _"All are expected to serve humanity... and never succumb to the darkness..."_**

-Ozpin

Ruby was kinda down in that morning. That nightmare last night had really made her a bit depressed, for a lack of a better word. She really did not understand why Nox had to be so hostile sometimes. Sure the dream had probably been about an extremely painful moment of his life, but that did not mean he had to be so mean. Ruby was wondering that maybe Nox should seek help, go to a psychiatrist or something, because he clearly seemed to have some unsolved mental knots. On the other hand Ryby was rather sure the last thing Nox wanted was to someone get involved with his matters, he seemed rather annoyed from all the things Ruby had seen. She hoped his team would eventually get him to open up to people and maybe then he could deal with whatever his problems were. Just like Ruby's team had helped her a lot, they were like family (Well, Yang already was but anyway) to her now despite the short time she had known them. She hoped ASON would do the same for Nox.

"Whatcha thinking?" Yang asked, snapping Ruby from her thoughts. Yang was eating pudding for breakfast, not surprisingly, and was already devouring her third serving of that morning. She had really, really became a mass consumer of pudding after coming to beacon, she had not been like that before. And she still used that same damn spoon to eat it. Ruby's personal theory was that the spoon was turning her sister into a pudding monster, but every time someone tried to take the spoon away, Yang clenched it like her first born bike, hissing and calling it "precious". Yeeaah, Nox was maybe not the only one in a need of help.

"Just had a bad dream last night, nothing else." Ruby replied. She would never even dream (pun not intended) of revealing something so personal about Nox. Not unless she felt like it might have affected someone else. "So what do we have this morning?"

"Well," Balke motioned towards the large windows of the dining hall. "The outdoor training class has been canceled due to the weather."

Ruby did not wonder why, the sky was black with thick clouds, rain was gushing down and whipping the world below, and a bolt of thunder could be seen flashing and then heard in rapid intervals. The wind was really hard, the windows were rattling from the blowing and Ruby could only imagine what the yard would look after a storm like that.

"I'm not disappointed I don't have to go out there." Yang commented as she licked last of the pudding from her spoon.

"Me neither," Weiss huffed like nothing could have made her step out into a storm such as was raging outside. Ruby could understand why with the shoes and the combat skirt Weiss used. "Since we have the morning free, we should do something useful to our education."

"Why I am not surprised that you are suggesting using this suddenly appeared free time to studying." Yang grumbled playfully.

"Well I just think we should utilize the time in a beneficial way rather than just lazily lay around in our room." Weiss equipped with chin held high. "We don't have to study necessarily. We could also strategize for the tournament. There is still a lot work to be done about analyzing potential opposing competitors!" Weiss said with a sudden inspired smile as she grabbed a huge binder from somewhere, slammed it onto the table and opened it from a section that was titled "Schnee Tournament Master Plan.

"I have collected information on all the currently reasonably possible opposition and evaluated them in four categories based on ' _skill_ ', ' _level of training_ ', ' _recorded achievements in previous tournaments_ ' and ' _espionage directed at us from them_ '," Weiss presented proudly. "We will get the morning to pass nicely with this!"

"Why is not my plan regarding ' _Support Team RWBY_ ' t-shirts mentioned anywhere in here?" Ryby asked as she loomed over the binder and examined the Master Plan section. _Counterintelligence Tactics? Weiss, you sly little snowangel…_

"It was discarded due to funding problems," Weiss declared with a demeanor of a proud dictator.

"But I can get t-shirts if I get the funding from somewhere?" Ruby asked with hopeful puppy eyes.

Weiss sighed. "If you can get the funding from somewhere, then I guess you can have the t-shirts. How you get the Lien, I don't care as long as you don't try to sell our school supplies, do mercenary work or sell Aura enhancing drugs or something."

There was rather fun stories behind each of the options mentioned by Weiss.

As Ruby squealed with joy, the door of the dining hall opened and completely rain soaked Orchid marched in and to the table's end where Team RWBY was sitting "Who is selling drugs?!" he asked with business like tone.

* * *

Beacon was much, much more scary at night. Sure having such a magnificent building as your school was awesome and it looked really impressive during the day, but when the night came the corridors suddenly came really spooky looking. Too spooky for Ruby.

Since the storm had wrecked some of the water supply stations, half of the dorm bathrooms were out of use, and they would have to share working ones until the problem was fixed. The closest public bathroom was two floors down from Ruby's room. And of course it was now when half of the bathrooms were unavailable that she needed to use one in the middle of the night.

She scoured the dark and empty hallways, every shadow looking more scary than the last. The wind was still blowing outside, causing dreary howling and rattling of leaves and branches.

But she was Ruby Rose, slayer of monsters and reaper of cookies, and she knew no fear!

A thunder suddenly rumbled in the night, the sound raising every hair in her neck up as she jumped in the air, making futile attempts to grab Crescent Rose that of course was not part of her pyjama. She quickened her steps, wanting nothing more than to get this over with and crawl into her bed's warm embrace. She wanted her bed, never had she missed it more than at this moment. It was warm at it protected her. She missed her bed!

The way down was over quickly, but after visiting the bathroom, she was faced with another scary trial: _the way back._

She was half the way back when she heard something faint that made her blood freeze. Scratching. Something was moving. Something behind her. She stood there with her spine straight as the a stick, her face white as Weiss' hair. Slowly, very, very slowly and carefully, she turned her head around, her eyes slowly coming about to find… nothing.

The corridor was as empty as ever, shadows as dark as ever, wind outside spooky as ever. There was nothing moving, not a soul in sight and no places to hide.

 _Just my imagination, just my imagination. Or the wind. Yeah, must be the wind._

Ruby turned to face his original way and continued walking towards her dorm room and the comfy bed that waited. But the feeling of something following her had come, and she could not shake it. She felt she was being watched, followed, shadowed. The feeling her Aura gave definetly was telling she was not alone. She was not alone.

She snapped her head around, fast this time, hoping to catch at least a glimpse of what was stalking her. Still she could see only the dark corridor where she had come from, the doors on either side undisturbed and firmly closed.

Ruby was feeling really spooked now. Grimm were not scary. She was strong and fast, she saw them and she could kill them. But not seeing the cause of the what made her Aura squirm with feeling of danger was, quite frankly, scaring the Dust out of her. She could feel her growing dread, and tried to suppress it the best she could, but she could not stop the fleeting panic on the edge of her mind.

There was nothing. _nothing_ , she tried to assure herself, but it was not working. She turned around again and hurried forward with slight trembling in her steps.

The faintest metallic " _click_ " sounded louder than a gun shot in the otherwise almost silent corridor, the eerie whispering of the wind and the hammering of her heart only other noises in her ears. Ruby turned so quickly she must have received help from her Semblance unconsciously. And the corridor, once again, was completely empty.

So she turned away one more time.

Just to find a deathly white skull face hanging upside down from the roof, inches away from her face.

It released a horrifying howl, and Ruby screamed as she turned into rose petals and shot towards her dorm room as fast as she could.

* * *

Azuhrius was having one of those days when there was nothing of importance happening. There was no reason for him to communicate with his operatives outside of Beacon, there was no grand operation just around corner for him to set ground work for, there was no mess with one of his teammates that he needed to solve before the bodies would start piling up. Even the transportation and storing of the stolen Paladins was over on his part, so there was nothing to do with that either. There was simple nothing important to do within the walls of Beacon.

So he retired to his recently found favorite hobby: riding the library of the school. Really, the amount of things he did not know was in a considerable better shape than before he arrived to the academy. Learning things did not seem to decrease the amount of learning yet to be done. It had actually been actually quite eye opening, showing him ever more clearly all the things the Legions were missing back at Terra.

Azuhrius was reading a thick book about the military history of Mistral in the yard just outside the library building. The weather was kinda cloudy but it was not discomforting. It was still summer and the fall was yet to arrive to the Kingdome of Vale.

Suddenly a shadow fell over the page Azuhrius was reading. He lifted the gaze of his green eyes and met the surprising sight of Cardin Winchester looming over him with his team behind their leader. "Can i help you?" Azuhrius asked with a neutral tone. He could not imagine Cardin would have any meaningful business with him.

"Hello Az," Cardin said with a mocking smile, his large mace resting over his shoulder.

 _Az? Who the in the Warp calls me Az?_

"We were on our way to the training arenas for some sparring and then I saw you and though I would ask you to join us." Cardin said with the same smile that lacked true kindness. "You don't seem to have anything important to do and I am in a need of a new sparring partner. I realized we have never fought in the arena duels against each other."

Azuhrius stared at the Cardin for a silent while. "Thank you but no. I don't feel like fighting against you."

"What, are you chickening out?" Cardin asked with a smirk, causing his gang to let out ridiculing snort. "Too afraid, is that it?"

"I don't think a proper sparring match is what you are after," Azuhrius said coldly. "If I had to guess, you are still feeling humiliated when your team lost against Nikos. Are you trying to prove your fighting skills by trying to beat down someone who you consider weaker, and since you no longer dare to bully Jaune into it, you came to me?" That seemed quite probable, Azuhrius had been defeated publickly by Weiss quite spectacularly a while back, so he was probably not considered exactly the top of the combat class.

The smirk vanished from Cardin's face. "Are you trying to be clever," he grunted while taking a step forward, trying to be intimidating.

"Somebody has to," Azuhrius simply replied. CRDL was starting to get on his nerve.

Carding let out a condescending laugh. "What are you reading, _clever guy_?" Carding snatched the book from Azuhrius and turned it to read the title. "History? Of Mistral?" he laughed again. "You are sucha nerd. A nerd that is afraid to accept a duel in a school of warriors."

"And yet I am the one that you came to. Does that mean I am the only one you think you are able to defeat in a fight, a book reading nerd?"

Carding grabbed front of Azuhriu's uniform, pulling him up from his seat to look up at the taller boy. "You think you are so much better than us, is that it? Maybe we should teach you some respect, clever guy."

"You are so pathetic," Azuhrius muttered to himself, pushing Cardin's hand off and taking his hand to Stalker's handle.

Cardin lifted his mace in return. "What was that?" he asked while people in the yard began to stare at them, some of them shouting things like " _Cardin is going to fight Azuhrius!_ " and "It's a _fight, it's a fight, it's a fight!_ "

"Nothing," Azuhrius said. "But are you sure you want to to bother me like this. I have some very violent and very very easily upset teammates."

Cardin's mace came in a sweep from his left, almost catching Azuhiriu's head as he hastily dodged the attack, diving then aside to escape the follow up hit. "Well they are not here to protect your ass," Cardin smeared with a smile.

" _Fight fight fight!"_ came from the background. There was a possibility of such shouts attracting certain kind of people onto the scene.

* * *

There was a knock on the door, and Nox lifted his gaze to look at it as the sole occupant of the dorm room. He did not feel like committing any energy for the task of actually rising from his bed so he made no move to open it. "Come in, unless it is Ruby!" Nox barked.

"The door opened and the blond head of Aureolin peaked in carefully. "Eh, hi Nox." He said, his eyes scanning the room and making a relieved look when he did not see anyone else.

"What do you want?" Nox asked with a snarl. "Can't you see I am busy."

"You are just laying on your bed…" Aureolin pointed out.

Nox glared at him. "Don't mess with me. I'll shoot you down. Oh, the things I would do to you if I was not feeling so merciful now days..." He growled with very malignant voice that caused Aureolin to shiver. "So did you actually have a reason for coming here? No, let me guess," Nox said and pointed out of the window. "There was a massive storm all of yesterday and you think it is my fault?"

Aureolin scratched his neck. "Actually, Oliver thinks so, but he said he did not have any solid evidence yet so he is not bringing it up for now."

"That's what I thought," Nox said as he used his right leg to push a white skull mask and a half empty bag of lightning dust a bit more away from sight.

"Oh yeah," the blond boy said as he took a step into the room, apparently remembering the real reason he was there. "I was just outside a came here to ask if you are aware that one of your teammates was picking a fight with team CRDL. They just started brawling when I left."

Nox stared at Aureolin. "Sangur, what the fuck…" Nox growled.

"Not Sangur."

"Orchid! What the fuck!"

"Not Orchid either…"

"Acting team leader Jaune?! WHAT. THE. FUCK!?"

"No, someone a lot more usually calm and-"

"LIE REN?"

"The person I am speaking of is from your team…"

Nox looked puzzled. "It is not me, right?"

"...No"

It took a moment for Nox to take the matter into its logical conclusion. "...Azuhrius?"

"Yes."

"What the fuck!" Nox jumped into the air in a giant leap and headed for the door. "Let's go to watch, I don't want to miss this!"

* * *

"Sangur is particular can be very hard to reason with once he gets irritated, and he can be irritated very easily," Azuhrius said as he backed away, not raising his gun to aim at Cardin who was slowly coming for him with his mace.

"Sangur can go to hell, I ain't scared of him. The dude has a brick for a brain. His shoe size is probably bigger than his IQ." Cardin boasted.

"So you are not afraid to take him on in melee, the most honorable form of combat?"

"Not at all.

"So you would not back out like a little bitch?"

"Are you begging to get your ass kicked?" Cardin growled.

"Does Sangur use Aura enhancing drugs, what do you think?"

"What? I don't know, probably? Would explain a lot of things."

"And you probably also think that cereals are for small children, don't you?"

"Well duh, are you going somewhere with this or-"

There was a sound of engine starting and soon a metallic grinding roars could be heard coming from somewhere close.

Carding stared at Azuhrius. "... _It_ is behind me, isn't it?"

"Yes."

"OH SHI-" Carding managed to say before the two red chain axes cut him off with their harsh howls.

* * *

"I was told that it was you who was fighting Team CRDL," Nox said as he stood next to Azuhrius, watching from the shadow of the school building as Sangur beat the ever living shit out off all of Cardin's team. The Sangur-smacking was both brutal and merciless. "My... Shoe size... is smaller than you think..." Sangur growled.

"I actually was fighting them for a while," Azuhrius replied with a shrug.

"Then how is it that Sangur is doing it now?"

Azuhrius raised his voice. "Hey Sangur! Try not to cause any permanent harm to them! Only until their's Aura runs out! It would be shame if you got banned from all future training matches because of this!" Then Azuhrius turned his head to Nox. "Cardin said he believed Sangur used drugs and that cereals are for pre-recruitment age humans, also known as children. Sangur was not amused," he explained.

"I know what a child is," Nox snarled.

"I was just making sure." Azuhrius said. Your vocabulary is sometime lacking and picky. I learned long time ago that your conscience has not gotten you to do any studying even though you are currently residing in a school, a place of knowledge and learning."

"What's ' _conscience_ '?" Nox asked.

"I rest my case."

Nox suddenly perked up. "Do you smell that?"

Azuhrius frowned and took couple of deep breaths. He was not smelling anything noteworthy. "No, what is it?"

" _Pancakes…_ " Nox said with a slowly widening grin.

"Oh Gods, please not this thing again," Azuhrius face palmed.

"There are only a few certain things in life," Nox said as he turned to face the dormitory buildings. "Death, Geneseed harvests, the Long War and the Pancake War. So it shall be for a thousand times for a thousand years, unto the very end of eternity and the extinction of mortal flesh."

"The things I have to deal with..." Azuhrius grumbled as Nox disappeared.

* * *

The last member of Team CRDL stopped moving, and Sangur calmed down, relatively speaking. His Nails were screaming, but he held himself together not to lose his axes upon the Aura-less huntsmen in training. It was difficult, and he actually had already bruised some of them quite badly. Cardin's arm could have been broken and Done was bleeding from his nose and lips. Nox had told not to lose it here. Sangur did not fully understand why, but he relied on Nox. Nox was usually right about these things.

"I have multiple witnesses that testify they are the ones started it," Azuhrius said as he emerged from somewhere behind Sangur. Sangur looked at his teammate and frowned as the pain in his skull slowly returned to its normal levels of agony. "What?"

"Just that I am working on mitigating the flack we are going to get from this. Fortunately nobody likes CRDL so that is a point in our favour."

"Can I kill them?" Sangur asked the important question as he looked at the boys laying on the ground.

"What do you think?" Azuhrius sighed.

"No?"

"No."

Sangur put his axes away. He heard some commotion from the other side of the yard and turned to look. "Are those Nox and Orchid running from burning Yang and sparking Nora?" he asked as the said two huntresses in training chased after his teammates, armed with a spoon and a hammer respectively.

Azuhrius turned to look. "So it would seem," he let out with another sight. "Strange déjà vu right now, I have lived this moment before..." he glanced at Sangur. "You know what amazes me? With all these shenanigans, I don't understand how nobody has died yet."

"Because we would get in trouble and locked away." Sangur said.

"Yes we would, but I don't understand how even that has stopped you three for so long. You have a bad habit of acting first and thinking, maybe, afterwards."

"I am going to go see what Nox is up to," Sangur said as he started jogging after the said person.

"You do that," Azuhrius said as he started checking vitals of Team CRDL.

Sangur made his way through the yard of the school, his way taking his to the landing pads of the cliff. There was not sight of the two females who had been after Nox and Orchid.

Nox and Orchid waited him there, looking down over the edge of pad. "How long do you think this fall is?" Nox asked.

"No idea," Orchid replied. "Do you think they will survive the fall?"

"No idea," Nox said pulling himself back from the cliff's edge. "Do you… think we might be able to blame CRDL or TACO for this?"

"I guess we have to try," Orchid shrugged.

Sangur stopped next to Nox and noticed his pale comrade was holding rather damaged pancakes. Orchid was also carrying some.

"It was much easier to steal these back when I had plastic bags to wrap them into," Nox growled as he looked at one of the pancakes that had been torn in half during the chase. Nox handed one of the pancakes to Sangur as the three members of ASON started walking away from the cliff. The tasty treat was pretty dusty after being carried around the school, but Sangur put it into his mouth anyway. The Nails were dampening his sense of taste somewhat, but it was still pretty good. Could have used some syrup. Or blood.

Nox lifted one of the pancakes over his head, tilting his head back and opening his mouth.

"STOP RIGHT THERE, NOX!" Came a roar from behind them, causing Nox to jump a bit in the air with every hair in his neck straight.

They turned around, just to see Yang pull herself up from beyond the landing pad's ledge. Here eyes were burning red and as she rose to stand on the platform, Sangur saw Nora hanging from one of Yang's legs. "GIVE US BACK OUR PANCAKES, THIEVES!" Yang shouted as he lifted her fist up.

"How?" Nox muttered. "I saw you go over that cliff! How did you get up so fast?!"

"Yes, you threw us off the cliff but there was one mistake you made!" Yang laughed without any warmth. "You left me my _spoon_ …"

" _No!_ " Nox gasped.

The beating that followed was both brutal and merciless.

* * *

 **Next chapter will begin with Terra. Also has a new Legionnaire. And a great chapter opening quote.**

 **Leave a review, if you feel it in your heart, and have a nice day.**


	32. Chapter 31

**Ever onward. This chapter requires consuming some Warp dust again, but it actually has some stuff in it that starts defining the plot for Volume 2.5. And a new Legionnaire.**

* * *

 **Chaos is the Prize Chapter 31**

" _ **I was weaned on the old scrolls – the very scrolls we cast aside in favour of worshipping the Emperor. Now, I cannot help but look back at the teachings of my youth, and think of those legends and their cores of truth.**_

 _ **In crude imagery, the old works showed a stain on the stars – a scar in reality, where the Primordial Truth reached out into the universe of flesh, bone, blood and breath. Each of them foretold of a golden lord, a being of godly power that would carry humanity to divine perfection. It had to be my father. It had to be the Emperor. And I believed it was, until the moment it was not.**_

 _ **He was not the golden lord. The Emperor will carry us to the stars, but never beyond them. My dreams will be lies, if a golden lord does not rise.**_

 _ **I look to the stars now, with the old scrolls burning runes across my memory. And I see my own hands as I write these words.**_

 _ **Erebus and Kor Phaeron speak the truth.**_

 _ **My hands. They, too, are golden."**_

 _ **-Primarch Lorgar Aurelian**_

 _He could see a fortress in the sky. A grant stronghold built by the mortals who though themselves the masters of this world. Far above the claws of the most soulless ones. Far above the reach of most enemies of the Cold Kingdom. But not unreachable, not unassailable. Someone rose to challenge the rule of the white army's rule. Someone would strike against the fortress in the sky._

 _He could see four things most clearly, pivotal points around which all else circled. A journey to an old iron bastion of mankind's knowledge, a place of lost and forgotten creation. A massive weapon of war crossing the skies, a prize undreamed of. An army of metal and dust that would stand against all enemies of the Kingdoms, tolerating no opposition to their military might during this age. And an eight pointed star drawn in blood that would show the path to victory._

 _And from the turmoil of that battle that bled all sides, the chosen Legions of the eternal Gods would claim their tools of victory._

Maroos' eyes snapped open, and he gasped for breath. His hands reached down the grip the metal grid platform he was kneeling upon, washed over by the unnatural lights of the Eye of Terrar below him.

With a litany of prayers on his lips, Maroos lifted his head. He had been granted a vision by the pantheon of the Primordial Truth. A grand vision. Never before when he was favored with glimpses at the future from the Gods had it been this clear. Or this important in meaning.

Maroos' breathing calmed down, but his heart rate was still up from the things he hand seen in his mind. This was it. This was the moment. After all these years after the fall of Mankind' greatest Kingdom, the Legions would emerge to wage their holy war. And this time they would not be held back like so many times before. A new age was coming, an age of return. An age of glory and battle. An age of the Legions. And Maroos had been chosen to bring the next step on that path to fruition.

"Dark Apostle?" Came a voice from behind Maroos'. He turned his head so he could see the Legionary approaching from the edge of the the platform.

"Are you okay, my Apostle?" asked Vermilion Diabolus, a gene-brother of Maroos and a blessed son of the holy Urizen, glory be his.

Vermilion was dressed in a dark red combat coat, a single shoulder pad decorated with the sacred star of Chaos and the Legion sigil of a flame on his right shoulder. A piece of robes covered part of his upper torso, coming from his left shoulder and going around his waist. A black belt with another golden start of chaos came down from his left shoulder to his waist belt. Hanging from that belt was a humble piece of technology from a lost age, a worn pistol that had not taken well the ravages of time.

In Vermilion's right hand was a holy standard, a grand long pole with an iron eight spiked ring at its head, a devotional icon to the Gods that Vermilion as its bearer took with him everywhere. He had not let the icon away from his reach since the day he was first granted the honor of carrying it. Maroos had not seen him let go of it in many months.

Vermilion's face was heavily tanned and his short scalped hair lined a face that was very much like Maroos' own, both of them showing a fraction of their Progenitor's features. His brown eyes looked into Maroos' golden ones with a look of an unshakable believer. The ugly scar cutting the edge of his lips was one of his testaments to his service and devotion to the Word.

"Yes, brother. I am okay." Maroos replied as he held on to to his holy Crozius maul, squeezing its shaft devotedly. "I… was given a vision by the Gods…"

Vermilion took a sharp breath. "What did you see, my Apostle?" He asked with shaking lips. "What insight did the Gods of the Primordial Truth bless you with?"

Maroos cast his eyes downwards, staring into the impossible colors of the raging storm of insanity and divinity beneath him. "I saw… a step… on our path to victory. I saw what me must do, what the Gods' expect of us. I saw war… and sacrifice."

"Anything for the Gods…" Vermilion said, his words echoing with devotion.

Maroos rose to his feet, turning fully around. "I must call the Legions together… I must tell them the of the divine show path that we must follow." Maroos headed for the stairs that would lead up to the upper palace. "Inform the other Legions of this revelation. I will withdraw to meditate on this and come to them when I have am ready. Gather the Legions, Vermilion."

"It will be done, my Apostle," Vermilion replied with a deep bow.

* * *

The moment they got the bathrooms to work properly again would be a moment Jaune would celebrate. Because the nightly Beacon was something that a professional huntsman in training would call really Dust damn scary. It was just so open and dark. Like, you could navigate your own home just fine even when it was dark, but when you were in a such a huge place like the castle academy, it felt like a danger could lurk in every shadow covered corner. Like behind every corner could lurk the worst monster imaginable. And Jaune could imagine pretty scary monsters. It was like the school was made to build upon the natural human fear of the dark.

Jaune shook his head, trying not to feel like a little child. He was a warrior. A warrior should be able to do a small thing like walking in a spooky castle in the middle of the ni-

There was a faintly audible snap, kinda like a twig snapping or small rock being kicked. Jaune jumped slightly into the air, glancing around and diving for the nearest hideout, which was some old humble sized statue depicting some old and esteemed hunter in at the end of the dormitory's corridor.

 _It's okay, it's okay, it's okay! Just a wind from outside. Or maybe I kicked some dirt without noticing or something. Yep, something like that. Nothing to worry about._

A barely audible metallic click came from the other side of the corridor, causing Jaune's slowly calming heart rate to jump right back to several hundreds. He stared through the long corridor, the other end completely covered by pure blackness.

 _Okay, that was not me…_

Jaune slipped a bit more behind the foot of the statue, hugging its ankles for protection.

 _It probably just some other student going to the bathroom of the lower floor as well. Yeah, that has to be it, that must have been a sound of a opening lock._

Jaune sharpened his hearing to its limits. There should be something else. Like footsteps. A sound of closing door. Maybe a yawn.

There was nothing. It was silent as a grave, only sound the beating heart inside Jaune's chest. Even the wind outside had stopped. He stayed behind the statue for maybe couple of minutes, during which he slowly started to calm down.

 _Maybe it was someone returning and that was the sound of a closing door,_ Jaune though hopefully as he took a single step from behind the statue.

And his Aura gave him a feeling of danger like a cold icicle down his neck. He froze on his feet, his eyes turning slightly up, as if his Aura was telling him that was the direction of the danger. He could not see quite that far, looking at the darkness that was covering the top of the corridor some meters from him, just beyond where he saw the gray ceiling turn into darkness. He felt like there was something up there,maybe fifteen meters from him. Up against the ceiling, maybe hanging from it. Watching him. He could not see anything, so anything should not have been able to see him either. Yet as he looked he could almost feel the eyes just beyond his perception nailed into him.

Jaune did not move. He did not know what to do. Was he actually sensing something or someone else. Or was his mind playing tricks on him. He tried to see a bit further, slightly narrowing his eyes but with no result. He tried listening. Tried to hear something. Breathing. A brush of clothing. A sound of a moving body. Anything. But there was nothing.

After a time that felt like maybe ten minutes, nothing happening and Jaune not moving, he stood up from behind the statue. He could not stay here all night. It was actually starting to feel a bit stupid. All children would experience fearing the dark, until they experienced dark so much without anything jumping from there to get them, that they were able overcome their fear. Jaune felt like he had made that overcoming anew within the past twenty minutes.

He stepped out from behind the statue. He took a step towards the darkness. Nothing happened. He took another step. Nothing happened this time either. He took several steps. He could see the part of the ceiling now where he had imagined something observing him. There was nothing but plain gray surface. Jaune was surrounded by darkness. Darkness and nothing more.

He took a new step again.

" _Going somewhere?"_ came a rasping voice from behind Jaune.

Jaune spun around in an instant, shock shooting up his spine like a bolt of thunder. A white skull face stared at him, its empty black eyes pouring into him with horrible malice that seemed to freeze the air around him.

Jaune screamed. He screamed so loud.

And then he fainted.

* * *

"So where is Jaune?" Ruby asked as he noticed the leader of JNPR was not sitting with his team in the breakfast table. Ruby laid down his tray and took his seat next to Pyrrha, Blake and Weiss following after her.

"He said he was not feeling well," Ren replied.

"He was not in our room when I woke up," Pyrrha said with a hint of worry. "He returned in the early morning, like he had spent his night outside our room. He looked really tired. He said he was not capable of going into class so he switched out from his pyjamas into his uniform and headed for the school doctors office."

"Does that mean he is in the sick bay?" Ruby asked? "We already have Yang and Nora there alongside Sangur and Orchid because of that fight yesterday."

"The sick bay always takes the best of us," Ren said with maybe a tiny miny hint of missing in his voice. Ruby wondered when was the last time he ate breakfast without Nora.

"It sure does," Ruby said. "Well at least they don't have their weapons there so that should keep a new fight from breaking out during doctor's watch."

"Yang and Orchid did not have their weapons yesterday either, did not stop them from trying to stab each other with a spoon," Weiss pointed out.

"That was a good thing, Nora's hammer and Sangur's axes did enough damage as it was. Did you hear the pad is closed until Glynda gets around putting it back together?" Pyrrha said. "Hopefully Jaune gets his in the sick bay even with all the others, he looked really tired."

"So what was with him?" Blake asked as she picked up a toast. "Was he sick or something?"

"Maybe, I am not sure," Pyrrha replied with a worried expression. "Certainly something happened to him, but there was no signs of anything unusual on him, and no symptoms of a disease either, other than he felt like had not gotten a very good night sleep. He did not feel warm when I felt him, so I don't think it was a fewer. I tried asking what happened, but he was so sleep deprived I could not get a proper sentence out of him."

"Well he went to the sick bay, so he should be fine. Let's check on him after today's classes," Ruby said. Then she frowned "Come to think of it… I also had a strange thing happen to me just couple nights ago."

"What happened?" Pyrrha asked, clearly desperate for anything that might explain Jaune's situation.

"I… eh, I think I met… something during the night. I actually half though it was just a bad dream. But after thinking it back to it, I think I encountered something during the middle of the night. Something that scared me out badly."

"You too?" Ren asked. All eyes turned upon him. "Have you not heart the rumors?" He asked with his monotone voice. "There have been couple of instances of incidents just like what Ruby just described."

"What kind of incidents?" Weiss asked.

"Students saying they were surprised at night by something when they left their rooms. There has been word of it since the start of the semester, but recently it seems to have happened more often. Not too often, but enough that rumors have started to circulate. Some say it is nothing but nightmares, but there have been multiple of reports from people without connections. And you have experienced it yourself, Ruby. Maybe same thing happened to Jaune," Ren elaborated.

"You mean something maybe assaulted him during the night?" Pyrrha asked with a small gasp.

"Assault is a strong word since nobody has been harmed, including Jaune who seemed untouched this morning," Ren said. "But in the light of recent events, I think it is a strong possibility."

"So what is this "thing" that is rumored to be stalking the corridor during the night?" Blake asked with a slight frown.

"Rumors are calling it..." Ren said. "The Evening Haunter…"

* * *

Velvet remembered well when some of the bathrooms had been unavailable during her first year at Beacon. And of course it just so happened that just then she had to use one in the middle of the night. Now she was doing it again. But she had come a long way since then. The nightly Beacon had see very spooky back then (have you seen those long open corridors, for Dust sake). But not anymore. She was not afraid of the dark hallways anymore. A year of fighting training in a huntsman academy had steeled her mind and numbed her mind to such insignificant fears.

She was a faunus and as such her vision was much better than human's, but that did not mean she had been without the same fear of the dark when she was a child. She was not an animal, she she was not a some creature of the night.

She was carrying her camera weapon, just as he had on that night many months ago done. It had offered her a sense of security during the long night. She had taken it this time as well, half out of nostalgia and half because she wondered if she might need it for moral support. She discovered she did not. Night was just night. Darkness was just darkness, and had no power over Velvet.

So when her Aura sensed a presence, she stopped and calmly looked around her. Her eyes saw the hallway clearly, darkness offering little to rob her of her sense of surrounding. Then she spotted the dark figure at the other end of the corridor. For the first time that night, Velvet actually felt a tug of dread in her heart.

The figure was not that tall, slightly hunched and bore a mask. A bone white skull mask that stood out in the darkness like a torch to Velvet's sensitive eyes. It was hard to make out details other than the mask due to the distance.

The figure stared at him from the other end of the corridor, its dark eye sockets ogling while it tilted its head. Velvet had a feeling it knew she saw it in the dark, and it seemed slightly hesitant because of it.

Then it shot into running right at her, coming for her with its death mask and talons that now were visibly spread on its sides.

A spark shot through Velvet's spine, and her fighting reflexes kicked in. she lifted her camera, and took a shot. The flash of lightning was blinding in the darkness of the nightly corridor.

She blinked after images out of her eyes as she retrieved, her arms coming up in defense as she adopted a hand to hand combat stance.

But nothing came for her. She could hear cursing and barely saw with her half blinded eye the figure crawling on the floor some distance from him, covering its face and trashing madly.

"You bitch!" She hear a suffering snarl and then more curses in a foul sounding language she did not understand "Ashilla sorsollun, ashilla sorsollun…" came rasping whines that were moving away from her. "You shrilla la lerril!"

Then there were sounds of metal hitting the floor multiple times, and then the corridor in front of Velvet was empty only darkness there and nothing more. She looked down at her weapon. She wondered what kind of picture she had taken.

* * *

Yang stared at the picture that was making rounds. The lighting was over bright, but the metallic raptor legs were clearly visibly gleaming in the high contrasted picture, revealing the identity of the masked assailant. Her yes drilled into the picture of the culprit that had night haunted her dear little sister, Jaune, and now most recently Velvet. Many of the other pair of eyes were looking at the picture as well, same fire in them.

"NOOOOOX!" Yang roared.

"Where is that runt who so shamefully dared to attack his wonderful senior!?" Coco asked.

"I am just fine," Velvet said.

"You will be avenged," Coco assure her teammate with a comforting pat to the shoulder.

"That little bastard went too far this time!" Yang declared. "This calls for punishment!"

"We'll steal his legs!" Nora exclaimed with hands in the air.

"We'll gouge his eyes out with a spoon!" Coco said as she took Yang's spoon. Yang reflexively tried to reach out and take it back, but the spoon seemed to up its power level by half in Coco's hands, as if returning into hand of one who could truly wield its might. She would allow Coco to borrow it until righteous retribution could be visited upon Nox. But she would take her precious back immediately after that.

"Justice will be swift, justice will be painful!" Nora screamed as he ran out of the room, wielding her mighty hammer.

* * *

"So the doctor let you out?" Nox asked from Sangur as they walkked down the corridor. He was glad to have him by his side again, Sangur was big and protected him from the beings that stalked these corridors.

"It was only multiple dislocated limbs. The queer whimp even had one that was not out of its place, the weakling," Sangur grunted back. "You are suppose to fight until you cannot."

"Yeah, sure, whatever. Hey, do you think you could help me if somebody comes for me?" Nox asked. "I feel like I might have messed up and got caught doing something that might make a lot of people angry. You have my back if they show up, right?"

"Don't I always," Sangur muttered, still remembering how Nox had ran away from the fight with Yang and Nora couple of days ago that lead all the participants being taken to the sick bay.

Nox was about to speak, when her bat-sense started tingling. He activated her semblance, the radar instantly giving him information and detecting the figure just behind him. Nox swallowed hard as Sangur glanced around his shoulder. "It is behind me, isn't it?" Nox asked.

"Yes," Sangur replied as the sound of cracking knuckles started to echo.

Nox turned around very slowly, just to find Coco Adele of team CFVY looming over him, glaring at him over her sunglasses, a handbag and a dreadfully familiar spoon in her hands.

"Don't… move…" Nox whispered while trying not to move his lips. "It's vision is based on movement..."

"Nox…" Coco said. It had detected him. That was enough and Nox spun around, his metal legs scratching for purchase as he put distance between him and Coco. He hid behind Sangur's broad frame, just as he detected more people behind Coco. The firecracker bitch and the thunder wench were there, and they did not look happy.

"Stay back!" Nox growled as he climbed Sangur enough to peek over his shoulder. "I have a Sangur, and I am not afraid to use him!"

"He'll do it, I've seen him," Sangur said.

"Nox, prepare for retribution…" Coco calmly said as she stared over taller Sangur's shoulder.

"Fine, you asked for this," Nox said as he jumped off Sangur. "Sangur, sic 'em."

Sangur reached for his axes, but did not even manage to grab their handless before Coco's handbag came in a wild hammer and smashed him off his feet and through the nearby window. There was a loud "thud" from outside after couple of seconds.

Nox started at the broken window through which his teammate had just disappeared, and then at the people in front of him.

 _...Fuck…_

* * *

Sangur entered the dorm room, seeing Azuhrius and Orchid minding their own business. "Has anyone seen Nox? I lost him and can't find him anymore."

"I think he is outside," Orchid replied without turning around. He had actually heard what happened. Like, heard it happen, not from other people but heard the event itself. But had not bothered to do anything about it. "I heard somebody chained him to hang from a tree after totally beating his ass."

"Ah, okay," Sangur said, causing Orchid to give him a look. Sangur did not seem that bothered. Maybe he thought getting beaten would build Nox's character. Orchid was pretty sure it would just make the bastard ran from fights more easily in the future.

"Brb, I am going to go get him," Sangur declared and marched out of the door.

"How those two are so closely bound is a fucking mystery to me," Orchid snarled after Sangur had left. He seriously could not understand how such totally different Legionnaires could be each other's closest companions. He thought about this as he half mindlessly pumped more drugs to his system and allowed the sensation to wash his mind and body, just as Azuhrius spoke up from where he was making important planning for the future.

"It is a mystery," Azuhrius said with barely interested voice. Orchic glanced at him and saw the blue haired boy was inspecting his scroll with extremely thoughtful look on his face.

"What is it?" Orchid asked.

Azuhrius turned his green eyes to him. "I have received a message. From Terra."

* * *

"Those warp damned wenches!" Nox growled when he entered the dorm room, going straight for his bed. He could still feel the chain around him. This would not go unanswered.

"Oh, you are back, good,"Azuhrius said with annoying monotone voice. Maybe someone should beat him up once in the while. It was only matter of time before it happened to Azuhrius outside the training arena, somebody would do it. If Nox had to hazard a guess, he would say it would be him.

"I heard what you have been doing," Azuhrius continued. "You should probably stop before this gets out of hand. Ozpin will only tolerate it as long as it is bickering and brawling among children. When people start getting hurt, I believe his patience will run out."

"You shut up," Nox snarled. "You know nothing of what goes on in Ozpin's mind. The old bastard does not give a shit what happens in his school as long as it does not affect him, his plans or disturb his coffee drinking peace and quiet."

"He is the person in charge of this school, and he will intervene if things continue to escalate like this. I doubt you would want that," Azuhrius calmly replied.

Nox cursed as he got comfortable on his bad.

"I actually spoke with the teams, and it took some delicate diplomacy and people person skill, but Coco, Nora and Yang think things are cool now as long as nothing else happens. Please try to hold up the peace."

Nox's face twisted. "Azuhrius, we don't use that word here!"

"But didn't Nox say 'peace' himself just a moment ago," Orchid confusedly mumbled to Sangur.

"Yes, but it was not about that," Sangur replied. "The word he is angry being used by Azuhrius was ' _Coco_ ',"

* * *

"If this is about what happened yesterday, "Nox began. "I will say it was nothing and people are totally overreacting. I don't even understand why people are making it such a big deal, childish if you ask me. This is highly offending to me and I feel like being prosecuted without reason. I am the victim if anything here. I was tied to hang from a tree! It would be highly unjust to punish me of anything. I am not afraid I am not ashamed I am not to blame! " Nox half desperately rambled excuses in front of Ozpin's desk.

The tyrant of Beacon academy looked over his desk curiously while sipping coffee from his mug. "Nox, this is not about anything that happened yesterday," Ozpin said calmly.

"What? Oh. Okay then," Nox said with a relieved voice.

"Did something happen yesterday though?" Ozpin asked with a raised eyebrow.

"What? No. Totally normal day. Nothing happened."

"What was that about being tied to a tree?"

"Nothing, just a silly tree climbing accident."

Ozpin nodded. "I see."

"So, um," Nox said with newfound caution. "Why did you summon me here then?"

"I have an proposition for you," Ozpin told him with a faint smile. "Something I think you will be very interested to hear."

"I am listening, headmaster," Nox said with a sudden glint in his eyes. "Is there some gig you want me to do? I take payments in weapons and pancakes. My fees start at thirty pancakes, half now and half when the job is done, plus a job specific bonus."

Ozpin smiled and rose from his seat. "Not exactly. Follow me."

The two of them entered the elevator, and Ozpin typed in a key code to a small monitor. A hatch opened to reveal another line of floor buttons. Then he pressed a button near the bottom that read "third basement," just abve second lowest " _Fort Port (no girls allowed)_ ", which sounded like a nice floor, and lowest bottom " _Vault_ ", which was probably where the school held its Philosopher's Stone equivalent. The elevator descended down to the third lowest floor, taking Nox and Ozpin deep below the ground surface.

The vertical ride stopped eventually and the doors opened to reveal a medium sized space that looks like some sort of safe storage. There were metal barred cages lining the walls, each holding inside objects of various nature, amount and size. There were many chests and safety boxes with no indication of what they were holding inside them. On top of the containers were weapons, jewels and other decorative items, books and paper scrolls, pieces of armor and coffee mugs. Certainly valuable things but nothing too extraordinary on the first glance.

Ozpin took Nox to the end of the room, stopping in front of the last cage on the right. Inside was only a single thing, a large armored metal box so big Nox could probably fit inside it. Nox knew what was inside this one.

"Tell me what I have to do to get it back," Nox said with a emotionless voice. "Anything."

"I am not giving it back to you completely yet, but I am going to let you temporarily have it if you use it take part in something."

"Name it and I will do it," Nox said as his eyes swept over the box hungrily.

"I heard our team is not taking part in the Vytal tournament. Your teammate mister Sonus was very disappointed because of it," Ozpin said as he leaned on his cane. "I want you to enter the tournament with him, even if your other teammates don't wish to participate. And I also expect your help if… anything unusual happens during the tournament."

"That's it?" Nox asked. That was not of course a perfect proposition, but it was something. It had been so long since Nox had used what was inside that cursed armored box. "Consider it a deal, my headmaster."

"Excellent," Ozpin said. "I will take care of this containers transportation to the arena. It will be opened and you will receive the content when your match starts, and return it back into the container when you are finished."

"As you say," Nox said. "But… to my understanding the tournament requires a full team's worth of Aura wielders as the competitors. How can we take part with just Orchid and me?"

"No need to worry, Orchid said he will take care of it and recruit the missing members from elsewhere. There will be no problem with you taking in part with two other people who are not part of your team as long as they are qualified to participate."

"Okay then," Nox nodded. Sounds like the old man had this all figured out.

"Good. Could you wait a moment, I have to retrieve some things." Ozpin moved to stand in front of another cage and started typing in a code to open it. Nox moved to the elevator doors, waiting for the headmaster. Ozpin opened the door and entered the cage, using his hand to pick up couple of things and then exited, locking the cage behind him. He followed after Nox and they entered the elevator whose doors closed behind them, barring Nox's sight of the box that held his treasure. _Soon._

Nox glanced at the headmaster and the things he was holding as the elevator started ascending. There were three things. One was paper wrapped package of some sort, a small cube of no particular interest to Nox. Another was a silvery knife, too small to be made for combat, too wicked looking to be for spreading butter on your toast. The last one was a medium sized box worn by time made of metal on top of which the smaller objects layd upon. At first all the objects seemed worthless, but then Nox's eyes were nailed to the box.

"What… What are those, headmaster" Nox asked with slow and silent voice.

"These are just something I have been keeping in my custody. I am sending them to a friend in Atlas for examination tomorrow, nothing for you to concern yourself with, Ozpin said as he showed the items to Nox.

Nox's heart hammered in his ears, and for a second he considered if he could take on Ozpin in a fight. He considered attacking to seize the box either way. The old metal box was covered in scripture, harshly carved small letters repeating same words that circled madly around the box like chains. " _Relics of the Progenitors, relics of the Progenitors, relics of the progenitors..."_ It read over and over again, in High Gothic.

* * *

 **Dun dun duun...**

 **So many plot threads. Here I was worrying this chapter might not be long enough.**

 **I assure this time the Relic stuff will be far less filled with dying Legionnaires.**

 **And we have a first completely new face in a while. Vermilion Diabolus of the Word Bearers. OC Dramatis Prsonar list in my profile will be updated, as well as the Adeptus Venatores picture on my DeviantArt page. Gone have to update that a lot again quite soon.**

 **Leave a review, if you feel it in your heart, and have a nice day.**


	33. Chapter 32

**We have dreams again, but a bit different dreams this time. And also get a glimpse at a new Venatore. I think we are going to meet another one as well in the next chapter, one at the very least. We are going to Terra again after all.**

* * *

 **Chaos is the Prize Chapter 32**

 _ **"Death is nothing, but to live defeated and inglorious is to die daily."**_

 _ **-Napoleon Bonaparte**_

Ruby could not sleep well that night. Her mind was haunted by a dream, a dream that tortuously repeated over and over again, causing her to twist and squirm in her bed. Her eyes trembled behind their closed lids, slightly twitching as her mind was beset by the sleep visions.

She saw the city of Vale. A location near the dock, not far from the place they had stopped Torchwick's dust robbery on that night. There was an airship. One of the gunships of the Atlesian fleet that Ironwood had brought with him. It had landed on the dock area, silently sitting there with its engines turned off.

There were figures standing around it, but Ruby could not make out anything about them. They were shadow covered silhouettes, almost like black real size card board imitations of the human form, but they were moving which broke the illusion.

From their shapes Ruby could pick up couple were probably Atlesian soldiers, based on the shame of the heads that implied helmets and the carbines they carried. Other shapes were not as clear.

And then there was the clawed shadow. A humanoid form with a strange fiendish feeling to it emerged from the night and attacked the figures around the gunship. It descended upon them and tore the apart, the shadowy nature not hiding the vivid blood that was shed onto the ground. So very very red blood. The thing left behind broken bodies as it moved for its next victim. It killed all of them.

Ruby's eyes opened. It took a long moment for her to realize she was awake, and she rose to sit in her bed. No, wait, this was not her bed. Why was she sleeping in Yang's bed with her sister slightly snoring beside her. Ruby looked with surprise at Yang's sound a sleep form that was hugging a spoon in her sleep. Had she crawled here in her sleep because of the nightmares? Not like it had not happened before when she was younger.

Ruby hurled her feet over the edge of the bed and got off it. She headed for her own bed on the other side of the room, climbing up into the warm comfort of her master crafted bunk bed.

She got under the blanket and started thinking about the dream. It had not been like the ones with Nox in them. Those only happened on weekends and were always very clear, like she was not dreaming at all. This had been fuzzy, shrouded like dreams sometimes were when you thought them afterwards. But she had seen same exact dream multiple times this night, she was sure of it.

She had seen a massacre. Here in Vale. Someone assaulted Atlesian soldiers and killed them mercilessly. It had been the most vivid part of the dream. And the worst thing was that Ruby though the actual events would happen. Those murders would actually come to pass. It was scary, for she actually even knew when it would happen. Tomorrow night. Tomorrow night in the docks of Vale.

Ruby had no idea why she felt like that. Was she sick and just fever dreaming? She did not feel sick. Maybe it was just a nightmare, a very strange but still natural nightmare, she tried to convince herself. But she could not believe that was the case. She felt like all she had seen was true, felt so somewhere deep inside her. People were in danger. People were about to die. She had to stop it from happening.

* * *

Nox had spend to the whole night and the following day keeping watch over the grand clock tower of Beacon. His focused black eyes followed everyone and everything that went in or out. Ozpin had said the relic box would be transported away today. Nox was not going to let it slip away from his grasp. The moment a proper chance to seize it emerged away from Ozpin watching eyes, he would take it.

It was evening already when Nox finally spotted his target. The day had been long and uneventful, and he was hungry from all the missed meals, but he had not left his vantage point. He crouched on the edge of the roof, looking down as the sole figure emerged from doors of the tower's roots.

The man was clad in a white uniform of Atlesian military, somewhat similar to the one Ironwood used. Nox did not know much of Atlesian military ranks, but he presumed the man was not of very high rank. He had a very big plain gray suitcase in his other hand, something he did not have on him when he entered the tower. The suitcase was just the right size to fit inside it a box of the size Nox was after.

Nox followed the man, sticking to cover offered by trees, bushes and buildings. The soldier made his way to the landing platform, where he entered one of the bullheads that regularly flew people between the school and the rest of Vale. Nox had expected the man would have had his own transport if he was going to Vale, but apparently he had not come to Beacon with it. It was all same to Nox, no matter the how the man traveled, he would strike when the opportunity arrived.

Nox probably could have entered the same ship and pretend he was just happened to share it with the soldier on his way to Vale, but he did not want to take any changes. He jumped on top of the bullhead, digging his talons into the metal fusillade and stick to it. The journey was not any less cold than it had been on the first time Nox traveled on the outside of the aircraft, but his focus on the task at hand helped him to endure it.

When the craft landed, Nox was already hiding in the shadows of the landing site, watching as his prey exited the craft and stalking after him.

The soldier did not walk for long before reaching his destination. Nox saw the Atlesian gunship on the dock area, guarded by multiple battle automatas of the north Kingdom. The drones allowed the soldier past them, and soon he was ascending the ramp into the gunship, the machine men forming behind him in preparation for departure.

That was when Nox chose to strike from his shadows. The head of the first android left its shoulders and fell to the ground with a metallic screech.

* * *

As Ruby patrolled the dock area, frantically searching for the gunship of her dream, many thoughts were swirling in her head. The most prominent was that the gunship had not been there. She had arrived to the area she had seen in hear dream, and there was nothing there. No aircraft. No Atlesian soldiers. No clawed assailant, not signs of combat.

It had caused her to panic slightly. She had seen the events so clearly. She had been sure that horrible incident would happened. And now here dreams seemed to have been lies. She continued searching the area, thinking that maybe the ship had moved or not arrived yet.

One other thing she realized only when she was moving between the storages and cargo containers. She had told no one the reason she had come here for. She had simply told her team she would be visiting Vale. She was going to the city to stop people from getting hurt. And she had asked no one to come with her.

It all seemed so stupid now that she was here, a lone girl trying to cover a huge area. The thought of siply telling her team and requesting their assistance had simply not come to her mind. It was strange, and a bit scary. Why had she not asked them to accompany her? It just did not seem… required at the time. Ruby was starting to think the dream had done something to her mind. A paranoid though that her own mind might be compromised was even more scary.

It was at that moment she heart echoes of gunfire. No kinetic weapons based on the sound of it. Energy weapons. Atlas technology.

Ruby leaped into the air, Crescent Rose firing a shot to send her on top of a large building. She sprinted over the rooftops, heading towards the sounds, even as a dread crawled into her heart. The fight had already begun. It had not been where she had dreamed it would happen. She was not there to stop it. Ruby hastened her speed in desperation.

* * *

The drones laid broken on the ground, their metallic frames shredded by Nox's sharp talons. His metallic legs stepped over the metal scrap left and onto the gunship's ramp. The soldier was there, taking cover behind multiple large storage containers piled onto the back compartment. Nox could see the pistol pointed at him over a large metal box. A slug thrower handgun, not an energy pistol.

The gun fired, the shot echoing loudly in the small aircraft. Nox saw the trajectory the bullet would travel from the angle of the barrel and had already moved his right hand's claws to deflect. The bullet ricochet off his silvery weapons without him even flinching much, only taking a away superficial fraction of his Aura used to reinforce his talons, and definitely did not stop him from calmly walking towards his cornered prey.

A second shot came after the first one. The a third one. And even more after that. Nox deflected aside the bullets that would not have been able to harm him in any significant way even if they had been direct hits against his Aura protected chest.

The soldier was not an Aura wielder, it was clear. Nox took great pleasure in slowly stalking his way to the worm who could not do anything to protect itself. He was an Legionnaire of the VIIIth Legion. Warp damn right the man should be scared of him.

Some of the bullets were deflected away so that they hit the containers inside the aircraft. Nox heard them impact metal boxes and canisters, and he could hear hissing as whatever was in those canisters started leaking out.

The gun clicked empty and a silence replaced the loud booms, descending down into the cramped space of the aircraft like a death shroud. The steady metallic "click... click... click..." caused by Nox machine legs treading on the metal plating seemed tremendously loud all of a sudden.

Click... click... click…

Nox felt the fear of the man. He could see the trembling of the man's horrified eyes. He could heart the booming of the man's dread filled heart. He could smell the cold sweat on the man's fear paled skin. It was exhilarating.

Click... click... click…

The soldier did not try to escape when Nox reached him. He had nowhere to go with his back against the hatch of the cockpit. He was sitting on the metal plating, legs and hands splayed, open jaw slightly vibrating.

Nox lifted his right arm, moving the long claw of his index finger under the man's chin and pressed it against the underside of the man's jaw near the throat, slightly pushing up so that a single drop of blood leaked on to the silvery metal talon. "You have something that belongs to me…" Nox whispered as his black eyes loomed over the man. "And after that, would you mind if I killed you?"

The large case was laying next to the man, and he reflexively twitched his hand towards it. "It… it does not belong to you…" the soldier said. The fear was in his voice if not in the words he used.

"Oh, it does. It is mine by right." Nox said as he formed a cold smile.

"You… you have no right of any kind to it. The objects in that case… they belong to the headmaster of Beacon academy.

"They do NOT!" Nox snarled, faintly tugging his claw and causing more blood to come from the wound. "Inside that case are relics that belonged to mighty demigods you cannot even imagine!" There was no smile on Nox face anymore. "They belonged to beings you worms of these Kingdoms you don't even remember… And now they belong to their sons. To the Legions..."

Nox started slowly pushing his claw deeper into the man's flesh. "So I do have the right, weakling. My right is greater than you can fathom. Just like my right to kill is greater than your right to live…"

The man cried out in pain as the claw sank deep inside his head. Flesh and muscle were mercilessly sliced apart as the talon made its way through the meat and past the bones. It went through the jaw in few terribly painful moments before finally reaching the brain. Then the cries of pain died out.

Nox flicked in hand and the body fell to its side, slumping against the floor of the aircraft. Nox paid it not further mind as he reached out and picked up the case from the floor. He would throw the body into the sea so that nobody would ever find it, and then he would hide the aircraft. Transports going missing between Kingdoms was not too rare. Ozpin would never learn of this.

Nox crouched down and opened the case. The items he had seen Ozpin pick up from his little dungeon where there, neatly placed in supporting soft wrapping. Nox tore them free, discarding the strange knife and the paper wrapped cube instantly. He had no interest in them. All he was after was the box.

He held the metallic container up, examining its surface and the carved words on its surface. It was an imperial security chest of some pattern, old but everything imperial was old now days. It had a strange locking mechanism, clearly a place for a key of some sort. Nox's heart beat furiously as he tried to jam the treasure chest open. He fiddled with the lock and then pulled. The hatch of the box did not bud. He tried prying it own with all his Aura enhanced might. The box remained firmly shut. Nox tried to cut it open with his talons. His claws barely scratched the surface, its dense structure holding against his weapons. He wondered what in the warp had managed to carve the words into its shell.

After couple of unsuccessful attempts, Nox gave up for a while. He could not open it by force. He had no key to open it. He wondered upon this for a long moment. Could he acquire serious cutting tools from somewhere? A lass cutter or a blow torch. But that would almost certainly cause damage to whatever was inside the box. He had no idea what was inside, or how fragile it would be. He clenched his teeth as he weighed different solutions. Finally he stopped and turned to look at the hatch to the cockpit. He was on an aircraft.

And an idea came to him. Where could he have a best chance of finding and suitable key, or failing that some kind of specialized tools or help to open the box. The answer was .

Nox stood up and opened the hatch. It folded inside the wall, revealing the lowered cockpit. The air smelled different there, Nox noticed as he stepped in. It smelled clean, pure. He glanced behind him. The back of the aircraft was filled with thin gas cloud, barely perceivable with eyes. Whatever had been in the canisters carried by the craft had leaked their content out and flooded the aircraft. Nox could feel something affecting him, now that he took notice of the gas. It was giving him a headache. He was feeling a little groggy, little weighty. Kinda like tired, but not sleepy. He did not feel sleepy like other people did. Was it some kind of battle gas, or was it just some chemical leaking out from its storage? Nox did not know, nor cared, and he closed the hatch of the cockpit behind him. The air felt much better instantly.

Nox lowered himself onto the pilot seat and took in the controls. There were a lot of buttons and controlled sticks. He looked over them, trying to figure out what did what. Some of the controls had names on them to tell what they did, but most did not.

"Eh… hatch control, flight lights..." He mumbled as he tried to make sense what he was handling. "Hmm, what's this… would you like to run the tutorial program?"

* * *

Ruby saw the scene before here and rushed down from the roof, the feeling of dread filling her heart. The gunship was there. It was not in the location she had seen in her dream. She noticed the shapes scattered around the vehicle and started fearing she was too late.

And then she reached them and she stopped. They were not people. The torn mechanical corpses around her were all Atlesian androids. There was no sign of any harmed humans, nor the terribly vivid blood she had seen in her dreams.

But something had destroyed them. Something had come and attacked them. Ruby sifted the Crescent Rose in her hand, turning towards the gunship and the open ramp. She started walking towards it and soon ascended into the aircraft.

There were many containers filling the small space. Something was hissing in a strange way. And then she spotted the pair of boots sticking behind the containers. A pair of very human boots. Ruby took a step forward, but at that moment the landing ramp of the ship was pulled in, and the back hatch closed behind her. She glanced around her in surprise, just before the felt the aircraft starting to move. Its engines hummed and the fusillade vibrated as the vehicle took into the air. And then it started rocking mack and forth.

Ruby was not secured anyway for the sudden wild movements and so she was thrown off her feet, crashing against the containers. The straps that were keeping the containers in place had been damaged by something, and they were torn free when Ruby smashed into them with Crescent Rose. Heavy creates and canisters were sent tumbling around, many of them impacting Ruby hard. It felt like whoever was flying the ship had no idea what they were doing, and Ruby was worrying they would crash.

A large metal capsure came from somewhere and hit Ruby in the head, causing her to fall. She could feel the heavy objects falling on her, pinning her down under them. She twisted and tried to push them away. And found she could not.

Ruby was feeling very hard to breath all of a sudden. The air at the floor level where she was laying seemed so much thicker. Her head started hurting and she felt like her beating heart was not getting enough oxygen from lungs to support her struggling. Her eyes grew heavy, and she started feeling really tired all of a sudden. She gave a large container pinning her under it one last shove, and then strength left her and unconscious took her.

* * *

His sleep ended abruptly and he rocked fort from his bed. His hand found his weapon in a second and he jerked up from where he was laying. The black sword came up and he struck at the air of his small champers with it. There was nothing for the blade to strike against however.

He did not let that trouble him. He kept swinging his weapon in wild abandon, attacking the stone walls in lack of better targets. His Aura reinforced weapon carved deep cuts into the walls that were already brutalized by older scars of similar nature. His strikes grew more frantic and more violent, and he started groaning and roaring in anger.

He had seen the dreams again. He had seen the terrible dreams again.

"My lord?" came a slightly rasping female voice from the door to his chambers. His bloodshot eyes caught a glimpse of old graying woman standing in the doorway, dressed in brown simple robes, her pale blue eyes observing him. He did not let her sudden appearance affect his wild rampage. "Are you alright, my lord?" the slave asked him.

He did not answer, he simply continued beating the walls with his sword. The slave took a step back when one of his sword slashes came too close to her.

"Did you see nightmare again, my lord?" the slave asked with calm tone.

He snarled at that. "Yes…" He spat as he violently slammed his sword deep into the stone with both hands. He had a moment of respite as it got stuck and he tried to pull it out. "I I saw the walls again. The walls. I saw the siege again…"

He pulled his sword free, the much suffered chinked black blade covered by stone dust pulling away before striking at the stone again. "I saw my brothers manning the walls… I saw them holding them… until death took them…" He kept hacking the walls of his chamber. "They held the walls… even when the World Eaters stormed the defences and butchered them where they reached us… even when assaulted upon by the tide of Death Guard who just. did. not. DIE! All the while the Iron Warriors kept pouring shells upon them day and night without moment's pause and the vox spilling forth nothing more than the screams of the dying broadcasted by the Night Lords! " He was spitting saliva from his foaming mouth now as his anger ran unrestrained.

"It was a long time ago, my lord." The slave said, carefully staying away from his sword's reach. "You have seen these dreams before. But they are only nightmares. Calm down, my lord."

"IT IS ALL GONE!" he roared from the top of his lungs. "OUR EMPIRE IS GONE! THE PRIMARCH IS GONE! THE LEGION IS GONE!" He could feel the rage of the Blood God fill his head. He needed something to harm. Something to kill. Something to direct his anger upon. "GONE!" he cried.

"The legion is not gone, my lord." the slave said with a confident voice. "There legion is still here. And it needs you, my lord. It needs you to guide it and protect it. Your legion still fights and needs you."

He stopped hitting the walls with his sword, and silence fell into his chambers. Yes… yes... The slave was right. The legion was not gone. It was small, but it was not gone. And he needed to look after it. It was his duty to the Primarch. He needed to be strong and guide the VIIth Legion. There was no one else.

He lowered his black sword. His heart started calming down and the adrenaline was washing away from his veins. He put his weapon aside, and the glanced at the old woman still standing in the doorway. "Get out of my chambers, slave," he growled as he turned his back to her.

"As you wish, my lord."

* * *

 **Don't come between a Legionnaire and his relics.**

 **So this time it is Nox going to Terra. And he is not traveling alone, even though he does not know it. Couple of very interesting chapters coming up, plenty of new Legionnaires. 2.5 has so much in store.**

 **Leave a review, if you feel it in your heart, and have a nice day.**


	34. Chapter 33

**Two chapters in a week, I am on fire! I have been waiting to write these chapters for such along time, they almost write themselves.**

 **Two new and very different Legionnaires this time. And some _very_ meaningful stuff for Nox.**

* * *

 **Chaos is the Prize chapter 33**

 _ **"But watch yourselves. There is no traitor's unity in the Old War. Trust your Legion brothers. And no one else."**_

 _ **...**_

 _ **"I hate this Legion, Talos. I destroyed its world to stem the flow of poison. I will be vindicated soon, and the truest lesson of the Night Lords will be taught.**_

 _ **Do you truly believe I care what happens to any of you after my death?"**_

 _ **...**_

 _ **"Our father gave you an eternal life. You know what he gave to me? Nightmares."**_

 _ **-Primarch Konrad Curze**_

It had been such a long time, but now that he was back here, it did not feel like it. Like he had never truly left.

Nox moved through the catacombs and poorly lit corridors of the palace, making his way steadily towards the junk yard also known as the armory. Based on what he had seen so far, nothing much had changed since he and Sangur left this damned place.

He hoped he did not come across too many cousins. The relic box was safely out of sight as he had put it back into the suitcase. He did not want to find out what kind of bloodbath would follow if other Legionnaires saw it and tried to claim it for themselves. Just like Nox would have done if he had seen something like that on someone else.

The corridors he traveled through were fortunately empty. He could hear some distant shouts and whispers, but he had no idea if they were real or just the caused by the close proximity of the Eye far beneath his feet.

He reached the armory without meeting another soul. The grand metal doors were open since nobody ever bothered closing them. Beyond Nox found endless mountain of debris. Grand piles of broken weapon and pieces and armor filled the vast series of chambers ahead of him as far as eye could see. Many of them had been used multiple times, and after all these years there was little more than broken metal waste left. That did not stop Legionnaires going around them from time to time, hoping to find by some miracle a piece of equipment still usable. Nox smiled as he remembered diving as a neophyte into those mountains of scrap in the hopes of finding a Nostraman chainglaive.

Nox walked past the piles that contained nothing of value to him and headed for the one of the side chambers in the deep end of the armory. He had never been there but he knew where what remained of the workshop could be found.

He entered one of the long alcove doors and was greeted by a voice calling to me.

"Lord Nox?" Came a voice and Nox turned to find a old man in robes by one of the junk piles. The slave interrupted whatever it was that he had been doing and turned to bow to Nox. "It is good to see you after such a long time, lord," Porfirio said as he took a step closer.

"This is but a short visit," Nox snarled "What are you doing here?" he asked.

"I am searching for weapons, lord" the cultist replied as he motioned towards a sack by his feet. Nox came closer and peered into it to see what the slave had found. He could see nothing but sharp pieces of metal of various sizes.

"For the neophytes, my lord" Porfirio elaborated. " They will need weapons. I will craft daggers from these parts."

Nox grunted. He remembered when long time ago all he had as his weapon was a sharp shank. He had left it in the spine of a Legionnaire.

"What brings you to the armory, my lord? Is there something you are looking for?"

At first Nox thought about telling the slave to get out so he would not catch a glimpse of the reason Nox was in here, but he decided against it. The Slave could be useful.

"I need a way to open an imperial security crate. A dedicated key if possible. Tools capable of opening it with the least amount of damage if not," he said to the slave. "Don't ask any questions about the content of the create..."

The slave did not inquire anything, simply started making his way towards the door at the end of the chamber. "You are not the first Legionnaire to have asked something like that. Come, my lord, I will show you how to open your create."

Nox followed the slave and after a short while they entered workshop filled with metal tables and many machines in various state of disrepair. It had once been a place to forge weapons, but now it was barely enough to maintain the scraps of equipment the Legions had left.

"I have opened so many security creates that Legionnaires have found all over Terra over the years. I consider myself quite well versed in the craft." The slave moved to one of the large working benches by the wall, and pulled forth a metal box filled with different keys. He also pulled forth a las cutter that looked like it should have stopped working a long time ago.

"If you give me the create I can most likely get it open with these. I almost certainly have no key that can open it just like that, but the las cutter helps negotiating the lock to accept even a not perfect fitting key," The slave said as he started arranging his tools.

Nox stopped behind the old man. He felt reluctant to give the box to the slave. It was not just any box, certainly not containing anything that the slave handled before. It had a chance of containing relics of the Progenitors. Other Legionnaires must not find out about it no matter what. He could kill the slave afterwards if it seemed he could tell anyone.

Nox opened the suitcase and pulled the box out. He offered the box to the slave, carefully observing the man. The slave did not seem to find anything unusual about the box and placed it on top of the workbench without further elaborations.

Porfirio started observing the lock mechanism, pulling forth different keys and trying them on the box. This went on for a while, until the slave grabbed the las cutter.

"Something happens to the content and I will make you regret it," Nox warned as he pushed away the sense of unease. He almost certainly could not have done a better job than the cultist.

Three times the slave cut with at the lock, and then tinkered with a key. The minutes felt long and Nox's heart rate was up the whole time. He feared the slave would fail, and he would have to use more drastic measures to break it open. He would break the slave's skull as well if it came to that. Then there was a loud snap, and the lock was open.

The slave moved out of the way like he was expecting it as Nox's hands rushed for the box. The lid was not yet open, but the lock was most definitely. He made sure the slave did not see anything of the content.

"Get out. Tell no one of the box or me," Nox snarled without being able to take his eyes off the box as he took it with him into the corner of the workshop and crouched down.

"By your will, lord," Porfirio said and Nox could hear the steps as the slave left the workshop.

Nox looked all around him to make sure he was alone. And then he opened the box.

There were multiple objects inside and he was going to go all of the through carefully. The very first thing on top of everything else was a piece of old paper. Nox picked it up very carefully, fully aware that anything inside the box could be priceless.

Nox raised the paper so he could look upon it. The page was filled with text on both side, and what Nox was seeing was kinda underwhelming. It was not Gothic, nor did he recognize the language, buy he found he could make out the meaning of most words. And as he read it he found it was a page from a story book. He even somehow recognize the story, despite having no memory of ever reading or hearing it from anybody. Maybe it was from the time before his elevation into the Legion, he had very little memories from that time.

The story told of boy, a boy who had a shard of a demon made mirror in his eye. The boy was imprisoned by a wicked witch of winter, who told the boy that if he could solve a difficult riddle and spell a certain word, she would let the boy go. The word in question should have been written at the end of the page. Nox knew what word it was suppose to be. It was suppose to be a word of great importance that had echoed from the very start of all creation. But a different word was written in its place on the page. A different word written differently than the rest of the page, with too much ink and too big letters. It was suppose to be a word meaning eternity. On its place was quite different word:

 _Mord_

Nox tossed the page aside. It had no worth to him. The next object he picked up from the box was white hard shard that Nox instantly recognized to be a fragment of a skull. But it was beyond any piece of bone that Nox had even seen. It was pristine, white of such purity it had no reason to look like that outside of a body. He had never seen a bone quite like that. There was something written onto the piece, and Nox leaned closer to read the words. " _I am a leader of broken monsters,"_ the words read in Gothic.

Nox laid the piece of skull on his side with considerably more care than he had done with the paper. The next item was a large sigile of some sort in form of a hammer. It was too small to actually be a weapon of any sort. It seemed more like a symbol that should be fixed on something. It did not seem especially valuable. Nox researched it for a long time before moving on.

The little object under the hammer looked like piece of a chain weapon's chain, with a single tooth in it. Literally tooth. The cutting part of the chain seemed to have been made from a long sharp teeth of some unknown animal, possible a big reptile of some sort based on the teeth's shape. It was little more than junk.

What Nox found next was a sharp piece of metal covered in dried blood. Nox turned it around trying to figure what it was. It was broken at the other end, and as he turned it around in his hand's Nox realized it seemed a lot like a sturdy blade of a lightning claw. It was very similar to Nox's own weapon, except much, much bigger. The weapon must have been huge, a fit for a giant…

Nox looked at the shape of the broken talon with greater attention. It was definitely from a lightning claw. A Primarch size lightning claw. And the design unfortunately did not seem very Nostraman or familiar at all, so that left…

Nox stopped breathing for a moment as his eyes were nailed to the blood on the talon. The blood of… the blood of…

"HOLY FUCKING SHIT FUCK FUCK!" Nox exclaimed as he threw the piece of _Talon_ away from him as far away as he could. It hit the wall in the corner of the workshop and fell down into a pile on metal junk on the ground, vanishing from sight, which was good. Nox did not want to go anywhere near it. His breathing took a long time to recover before he moved on.

There was only one object left in the box. It was covered in black satin, and took a shape of a semi large ball. Everything else had been more or less junk, so Nox was not holding any great expectations. It was not like he had ever expected to find the Corona Nox or anything like that. Nox removed the shroud over the object, and looked at a dark crystalline ball that was revealed.

Nox felt like his heart could explode out of his chest as he sat completely still and looked upon the orb. The orb the the Cyclops had given to his brother. The orb that had been lost during the Legion Wars. The orb that had once sat upon the arm of the Lord of the Night's throne…

Nox could not believe what he was seeing. Never in his wildest dreams or nightmares had he ever imagined he would stumble upon something like this. He could not believe this was happening, what he was holding.

He lifted the orb up and wrapped the relic of his father in his arms and pressed it against his chest. Then he did something he had not done since his elevation into the VIIIth Legion.

He wept from joy.

* * *

Nox descended even deeper into the catacombs, and finally stepped into a long corridor unlike any other. There was another large entrance at the other side of the marble floored hall, as well as many large double doors in the walls on both sides of Nox. Twenty doors, ten on the left, ten of the right. With Legion symbols and numbers crafted upon them.

Nox started walking down the hallway lined with the tombs of the Progenitors. The steps of his metallic legs echoed in the high corridor. The air smelled different than anywhere else in Terra. All the Legion symbol could be seen around him. But only one interested him.

Nox stopped in front of the double doors decorated by a huge leering skull with bat wings, accompanied by the number of the eight Legiones Venatores. Nox held his breath. He had never seen behind those doors. No Legionnaire was mad enough to disturb the peace of their Primarchs final resting place without a very good reason. The Legionnaires that entered the tomb of fathers not of their own were never seen again. Nox placed his hands against the smooth stone of the doors, released his breath and pushed them open, just enough to allow him entrance.

It was dark inside. So very dark. Only light came from the opened door. Nox started walking into the dark. After couple of steps he became aware of the air. It smelled funny. It smelled dangerous. Nox could feel the air filling his lungs and releasing something into his bloodstream. He could feel tingling as the stuff spread throughout his body. Then the genetic code, not his but his fathers made the substance impotent.

Nox smiled. "Ah, nishallitha…" he muttered as he understood why the legionnaires invading their uncle's tombs did not come out. It was hard when the tombs were filled with poison that were designed to kill you if you were not of the particular bloodline. Nox walked on.

The chamber rose up by a meter in the middle, forming a large platform that spanned half of the room. There was no going further. There were three word carved in the foot of the platform in Nostraman runes. Two of the words were the same. " _The horror, the horror,"_ was their meaning. That last was a symbol of " _Vindication"._

Nox could see a shape in the darkness. A silueth that laid on the platform, shrouded by the faint glistening glow of a stasis field and power field. Nox had no idea who had build the tombs and the power field generators, but they stopped anything less than a Primarch from retrieving anything that was once placed upon the platform and swallowed by the field. No one would be able touch upon the relics of the fallen Progenitors. Nox saw the mighty lightning claws, Mercy and Forgiveness, gleaming in the dark, like larger versions of his own weapons.

"Colrath..." Nox whispered with a frail words. "Colrath…" He had hard time understanding he was really here. He was so glad we had received an opportunity to be here. "Ave Dominus Nox..."

Nox stood there for a minute simply looking what laid before him. "I have come… to return this to you… father... " Nox said as he lifted the orb in his hands. He looked once into its dark depths, and then reached his hand out upon the platform, ready to drop it into the embrace of the force field that would have killed him if he dared to touch it directly. He stopped in the middle of the motion, leaving his stretched hand to reach out into the air with the orb.

On the other hand, Nox though now that the time of letting the relic go had come. Why should he not keep it to himself? Was he not the last of his father's bloodline? Was the relic not his by right, his lawful inheritance? Was is not his by every reason imaginable. So why should he not keep it? Nox formed a faint smirk as a single tear fell down his pale skin.

The orb fell, landed upon the platform and was soon swallowed by the glistening field surging to claim it. Nox closed the doors of the tomb as he left, leaving the remains of the VIIIth son of the Emperor into the blessed darkness.

* * *

Ruby woke up with a terrible headache. Her eyes were hurting and she could not smell anything. It took a long while for her to understand where she was and what was around her. Her eyes slowly stopped itching and she saw with them again. Other sense returned to her as well.

What was revealed to her was a large pile of containers laying all over her. Ruby wiggled her arms free and started pushing the heavy junk off her. She emerged from the scattered pile and found she was still in the back of the gunship. Oh yeah, the gunship. She suddenly remembered what had happened before. The docks. The broken androids.

She stood up, pulling Crescent Rose up with her, and observed her surroundings. Both the hatch to the cockpit and the back ramp were open. There was no one in the head of the aircraft, so Ruby made her way down the ramp and out into the bright summer day. There was no sign of the person who had piloted the craft.

The airship had been landed on a meadow right next to a start of a forest. There were rocks some hundreds meters on her right, and beyond them she could see an ocean. Opposite to the ever reaching blue horizon and beyond the forest she could see very distant mountains on her right. The scenery did not feel even remotely familiar. These observations made one very important question come to her mind: Where the Dust was she!?

It was clear she had been taken involuntarily on a flight, Ruby though as the nice summer breeze blew her hair. So where had she been taken?

Ruby started walking away from the aircraft. The forest did not seem like the most optimal direction so she headed towards the sea instead. She reached the rocks and found a long steep fall into gushing waves below. As she looked to her sides, she saw the ridge end on her right, and in the distance she spotted buildings. A village. Human life.

She started making her way towards it, as she could not think anything else to do. There would be people from whom she could ask where she was.

The village was not terribly far, Ruby reached it in a bit over half an hour. High stone walls surrounded it, as a protection from the Creatures of Grimm obviously, and the highest roofs could be seen beyond. Ruby circled the walls until she found the entrance. There was a large open reinforced gate on the side directly opposite to the sea. She did not see any signs or hints that would tell her the name of the settlement, so Ruby walked in right away.

Ruby stopped to take in the village. There were 30, maybe 40 buildings of various sizes, as well as some very old looking ruins that were a stark contrast to the very full of life seeming houses. She could see people doing their chores, and children playing around. She started walking deeper into the village.

The villagers that spotted her stopped whatever they had been doing and stared at her. The children stopped playing and everywhere she went she could see curious eyes on her. Maybe the village did not receive visitors very often. As she moved on, some of the villagers entered their houses, as if cautious of her. Other merely looked where they were, not making any effort to approach her.

"Who are you?" Ruby suddenly heard a young voice. She turned as saw a small boy and maybe a bit younger girl standing in front of the building she was passing by. The child looked up to her with eyes curious but careful. They were maybe 7 or so years old, Ruby estimated.

"Oh, hey there," Ruby said with a polite smile and turned towards the children. "My name is Ruby Rose. I am a huntress in training in the Beacon Academy," Ruby explained with kind voice. "I seem to be a little lost at the moment. Could you tell me where I am? What is the name of this settlement?"

The boy looked up Ruby with his brown eyes. "This is Laguna," he said with a very neutral tone. "You are not of the Legions, are you?" he asked next.

"The Legions? What are those?" Ruby asked. She could not connect the term with anything.

The small girl grabbed the edge of the boys shirt. "Let's go, brother." She said with a timid voice. The boy turned slightly as if to leave.

"Hey, wait. Is there anybody here to whom I could talk to? I need to find my way back home." Ruby asked hurriedly.

The boy looked at her and pointed with his hand at the right edge of the village. "By the watchtower," he said before turning and hurrying away with his sister.

Ruby turned around and spotted the said watchtower. It was tall wooden construct at the edge of the settlement, right by the wall where it had a good spot to observe the landscape all around the village. Ruby glanced behind her one last time before starting to make her way towards the tower like the boy had instructed her.

She spotted smoke rising from the towers direction as she came closer. Small trail of smoke rising up and then scattered by the winds. When Ruby finally made her way on top of the humble hill which the tower stood upon, se discovered the smoke was coming from a small fireplace at its feet.

Couple of large tree trunks had been cut and dragged around the fireplace in the ground to form a semiring of natural seats. And there was a person sitting by the fire, cooking something over the dancing flames. Ruby approached him. "Hey, might you be able to help me out?" Ruby asked loudly as she was close enough. "I seem to be in a bit of a predicament."

The dark haired boy dressed in white heard her and turned to look at her.

* * *

Nox did not meet anyone on his way towards the chambers he had resided in when he still called Terra his home, as much as he ever could have called it such. There was one last thing he would have to retrieve from the chamber before he would head back to Laguna and the gunship that would fly him back to Vale.

Nox did not meet anyone on his way. Until he had to enter the hall that housed the chambers of the neophytes.

Nox stepped into a very unsymmetrical chamber filled by multiple symbol marked doors. And on the other end of the chamber he saw a Venatore of another Legion. The Legionnaire heard him and turned to look at Nox.

In the following moment the Legionnaire had leaped across all of the vast room. Not, not leaped. He _flew_ across it, for he had wings. Great black raven's wings.

The tall dark clad shape landed right in front of Nox. "Nox!" He exclaimed with a voice slightly vibrating by the touch of the Warp.

"Lord Shrike," Nox said very carefully to Kierana Shrike, the oldest of all the living sons of the Legions.

"You are back!" Kierana said and actually sounded pleased, unlike most other Venatores Nox could have encountered.

Nox could not see his face, for Kierana's face was covered by ashen gray bird-like mask that he rarely removed, the black pearl eye lenses gleaming. Spiky black hair could be seen sticking out from the back of his head behind the mask. His body was completely covered by actual armor unlike most other Legionnaires, as was his privilege as the most powerful Venatore alive. The matte black, smooth, thin plated body armor perfectly settled over the body, allowing maximum freedom of movement. Kierana's hands were clad in sharp pointed gauntlets, and not an inch of his white skin was visible.

There were no weapons on him, ones that Nox could spot anyway, which was odd for a Legionnaire and really suspicious. But Nox would not have dared attack Kierana even if he had no arms.

And then there were the wings of course. Two black feathered wings were sprouting from his back, casting their shadow over Kierana like a great cape. The mutation was a boon from the God's, a "blessing" granted to the mightiest champion of Chaos Undivided.

Kierana was the only Venatore alive from an older recruitment batch than Nox. Nox was not sure exactly, but Kierana was maybe a decade older than him. Ancient by Legionnaire standards. He was undisputed champion among the Legions, a place he had received by killing the few remaining Venatores as old as him as well as anyone who was stupid enough to anger or challenge him. Most Legionnaires called him by his XIXth Legion name, Shrike. Lord Shrike if they were particularly scared of him at the given time.

"Good to see you," Kierana said with a pleased tone. "It is good that you are back. The Legions need all the warriors it can have," he spoke like a demented old person. Years of Warp's attention hand softened Kierana's brain. He was the strongest alive, but had never been of unshakable will. Nox was not sure how long the old raven could go on. Maybe he would live many long years yet. Maybe he would be take by spawnhood or overcome by the madness of the Warp tomorrow. Ascension did not feel likely for him.

"No one can save you the damage is done," Nox muttered quietly to himself. "I came just to visit," he said louder so Kierana could hear. "I must return to back Beacon soon."

"Oh yes…" Kierana purred. "I heard you and Sangur have somehow made your way into a huntsman school. How is Sangur now days?"

"Same as always," Nox replied with a shrug. He hoped Kierana would not start inquiring the reason of his visit or demand to see the content the suitcase.

"That bad, huh," Kierana snickered. "Oh, so much has happened since you left."

"Yeah, I heard XVIIth and XXth are the largest Legions nowadays," Nox snarled.

"For now, but we have had a new recruitment batch into the ranks of the Legions while you were gone. Those will change situation when they reach maturity."

"You had a new influx of recruits? Good for you." Nox said.

"Yes, awesome is in not? The Legions grow! New Legionnaires join the Long War!"

 _And the old ones leave it._

"Which brings to my mind… come with me," Kierana said as he tapped Nox's hand, beckoning him to follow. Nox dared not to obey and followed the dark champion. They stopped in front of one of the doors. The door decorated by a winged skull. Nox suddenly was struck by realization as the nostalgia washed over him.

"Are you saying…" Nox muttered, totally stunned. The possibility had never crossed his mind. He had never even considered it. He had somehow always thought he would remain as the sole son of Nostramo till he died.

Kierana chuckled as he grabbed the door handle. "Step right in…" he hissed, smile audible behind his mask. Nox did not feel like he was yet quite ready, but he entered through the door as Kierana opened it.

There was a smaller chamber beyond, almost completely dark but for a couple of dim lumen lights by the door. Most of the items and furniture of the room were covered by the darkness, but Nox could see them perfectly. The darkness felt like home.

And then he spotted the figure. The small shape approached the open door from the darkness, stalking closer.

"Lord Shrike?" Nox heard a young voice speak. The figure stopped a few meters away from Nox and Kierana. Nox's eyes were locked onto the neophyte in front of him. Extremely pale skin. Pitch black short hair. Dark marble eyes with no distinction between iris and pupil and a reduced sclera.

For a long moment Nox and the small yet to fully mature Venatores stared at each other. Just stared, allowing the silence reign. Nox saw something in those mirroring obsidian eyes. Something he had never before in his life seen himself being looked upon with. _Admiration_.

"...Vylas?" The boy asked.

"Vylas…" Nox replied in Nostraman. "Brother," He repeated in Gothic. "How old is he?" Nox asked absently from Kierana without looking.

"He is nine, but he kills like an eleven year old!" the Legionnaire of the XIXth replied. "Where are your brothers?" Kierana asked the small neophyte. "I was pretty sure we had at least three Night Lords here."

The boy barely glanced at Kierana."They died."

"What?" Kierana exclaimed. "When did this happened?!"

"Five months ago," the boy replied.

"Oh… how did I miss that…" Kierana said as he scratched his mask. "Well, anyway. Nox, may I introduce," he motioned towards the young boy. "Cerin Deimos of the VIIIth Legion."

* * *

 _ **Ave Dominus Nox!**_

 **In case anyone is wondering, Curze's Orb is a Night Lord Relic from the Traitor Legions supplement to the table top game.**

 **Going update the DeviantArt picture again.**

 **More Legionnaires next time.**

 **Leave a review, if you feel it in your heart, and have a nice day.**


	35. Chapter 34

**2.5 is seemingly becoming much longer than I anticipated. Maybe even longer than V2 if I this keeps going. But it is super interesting stuff at least. At least I hope you will find it interesting.**

 **Okay, I hope you like new Legionnaires, because we have both of the teased Legionnaires coming this time.**

* * *

 **Chaos is the Prize Chapter 34**

 _ **"You will always be a monster - there is no turning back from it. But what kind of monster you become is entirely up to you."**_

 _ **-Julie Kagawa**_

"Well hello there," The boy said as he turned to fully face Ruby, his light brown eyes observing her carefully. His dark hair was tied with a band into a knot that extended from the back of his head a bit like a pony tail. The was a long pale scar under his left eye, a very clean cut reaching his down to his chin, so clean it might have been intentionally inflicted with great care.

He wore a white long sleeved tunic, and a strange style "X" shaped belt west over his chest with white fur trim, and a large golden circular metal plate depicting a lightning bolt in the middle of his chest. He had combat bracers made of the same metal around his wrists, decorated with some tiny runes, gleaming in the sunshine of the summer day. He had gray hunting pants and his black boots had a similar lining of white fur as his vest.

There was a gold decorated sheathed curving sword resting next to him, resting against the tree bark he was sitting upon, as well as a bow that looked like it was selfmade.

He was cooking some sort of bird that he had on a stick over the fireplace. Ruby could see two more dead birds lying next to the bow. Seeing the fried bird over the fireplace made her realize how hungry she was. When was the last time she had eaten anything? How long was it since she left Vale. Her Aura was helping her to to feel too deprived of nutrients, but the power of her could goud could not replace outside sustenance.

"You are not around here…" The boy said with a soft, slightly accented voice. The way he pronounced the words sounded very pleasant somehow. The way he spoke actually distantly resembled Ren somewhat. He could not have been much older either.

"No, I am not," Ruby replied. I am actually quite lost and have very little idea where I am or how I got here. Oh, I am Ruby by the way. Ruby Rose," Ruby said as she introduced herself.

"I am Tsagaan." The boy answered softly with his own name. Tsagaan Khurdan."

"Nice to meet you," Ruby said as she walked closer to the fireplace. "So, like, could you perhaps tell me where we are right now? A kid already told me this place is called Laguna, but that's about all I have. I have no idea where Laguna is located. How far are we from Vale?"

The boy looked a bit surprised by the inquiry. "Well... " He said as he leaned in to adjust the bird meat stick over the dancing fire. "I don't know exactly how far from here Vale is, but if I had to guess, I would say very damn far. Vacuo is a much closer Kingdom, and even that is a long way from here.

"What?!" Ruby exclaimed. She had not expected to be that far from home. "How far along along the coast are we?

"Along the coast?" Tsagaan said. "Laguna is not in Sanus if that's what you are thinking."

"What?!" Ruby exclaimed a second time, this time much louder. "Then what continent is this?"

"We are in Sol. Laguna is located on its south west coast."

"...I am a really far away from home…" Ruby let out. Sol? She was on a totally different continent. She had never been off Sanus. She knew practically nothing about the smaller continent north of Sanus, other than that it had very few settlements since there was no major Kingdom presence. "Mind if I sit down? This is kinda lot to take in." Ruby asked as she motioned to the cut tree trunk next to the fire place.

Tsagaan nodded and waved at the bark. "Go ahead."

Ruby sat down and stared into the air with wide eyes. She was further from home then she had ever been. Whoever had flown that gunship had for some reason taken them over the sea. How was she suppose to get home?

"So how is it you found yourself here? Laguna does not get visitors often. From the sound of it, I am guessing it was not your intention to drop by," Tsagaan asked.

Ruby was about to reply, but she was stopped by a loud rumble. She found the voice was coming from her stomach. She was hungry, and had no idea how many hours, or perhaps days ago she had last eaten. The cooking meat over the fireplace was making her mouth salivate and her stomach even hungrier.

"Are you hungry?" Tsagaan asked.

"Yes. I have no idea when I last put something in my mouth," Ruby replied with a suffering smile.

"Wait for a bit, this is soon ready. You may have some of the bounty of my hunt," Tsagaan said as he twirled the stick around to roast the bird from another side.

"Thank you, I am starving," Ruby thanked from the bottom of her heart. She sat quietly for a moment as watched the crackling flames. "You shot them yourself?" She asked as she looked at the two dead birds next to the boy.

"Yes. There is plenty to hunt in the forest. I am not really a friend of a fish unlike Slate that the villagers around here fish from the ocean."

"Who is Slate? Is he a friend of yours?" Ruby asked.

"He is my cousin," Tsagan replied. "It is me and him who mostly protect this settlement from the Grimm. We guard in shifts so he is not here today. We actually have a lot of cousins who also should have sifts but me or Slate are the ones who end up doing this 90% of the time."

"You are protecting these people? Are you a huntsman?" Ruby asked with interest. That would explain the sword next to him. "I see you have a very fine looking weapon there, what's its name, what does it do?"

"No exactly. I am a swordsman of some skill, but I have never gone into any huntsman training schools, so I am not a huntsman. We train with each other, me and my cousins." Tsagaan picked up his sheathed sword. "My weapon is called Sarantsetseg. And it does not 'do' anything if you are implying its transforming weapon. It is simply a sword, but a very good one at that," Tsagaan said with a small smile.

"Really? Never been to a academy? You are like Blake then, self taught fighter," Ruby mentioned her friend.

"Who is this Blake you speak of?" Tsagaan asked curiously.

"Oh she is my teammate in Beacon. We are studying together to become huntresses. She was raised outside the Kingdome," Ruby explained.

There was a glint in Tsagaan's eyes. "Wait, does that mean you are a Aura wielder?" He asked with sudden interest.

"Yes I am. I know I am a bit young but I am a huntress in training in Beacon," Ruby declared with some pride.

Tsagaan looked at her with much more curiosity now. "So you are an user of Aura…" He said it like it was very strange to him for some reason. "I have never met a natural born Aura wielder."

"Really? We are not that rare. So does that mean there are no other huntsmen here in Laguna? What about your cousins? Aren't they fighters as well if they take part in protecting this place?" Ruby asked.

"No, me and my cousins don't count. And there are not huntsmen in Laguna. The villagers are not capable of fighting the Grimm, so we keep the Xenos at bay in exchange for food ans some other supplies."

"Xenos?" Ruby asked, puzzled by the stage name the boy referred to the Grimm.

"It means something not human, an old word, don't mind about it," Tsagaan waved the question away. He leaned to pick up the end of the stick impaling the cooked bird. He observed it carefully before seemingly coming to a conclusion it was ready. He pulled a wide bladed knife from the backside of his belt and proceeded to expertly cut a large chunk of the juicy brown meat and impaling it with the knife. He handed the stick and rest of the food to Ruby. "I don't really have any utensils or plates at hand so I hope you don't mind about this very basic way of enjoying a meal."

"Not at all, I am so hungry I would eat it off anything at this point," Ruby said as she gratefully accepted the meat she was offered, her stomach crying for her to feed it. She lifted the stick to her face with reverence before her teeth started biting the meat. It tasted wonderful, like nothing she had ever eaten before. It is funny how litle starvation helped to boost appetite.

Tsagaan chuckled as the meat disappeared around the stick faster than he could take second bite of his own share. "You were not kidding about being hungry," he mused with his soft voice. "Are you thirsty?"

Ruby nodded and Tsagaan produced a canteen bottle from the other side of the tree bark he was sitting on. He removed the large cap, turned it upside down and poured water into it before handing it to Ruby. She enjoyed every drop of the godly refreshing elixir of life known as H2O. Tsagaan poured her another cup after the first one.

"I also heard another word that I could not recognise, used by a the little boy who directed me to you. I think it was ' _Legion_ '. Do you know what that means?" Ruby asked as he remembered his first encounter at the village.

"I can't say." Tsagaan simply said.

Ruby took a sip of water before she moved on. "So you and your cousin protect these people?" Ruby said as she waited Tsagaan to eat. Her gaze circled the village, observing the buildings and the old ruins between them. "Does that mean you live here?"

"Oh no, me and my cousin live much further to the north, by ourselves mostly," Tsagaan replied. "One of us is constantly stationed here, and then we switch places. Or other times we don't and I get to sit here for weeks," Tsagaan said, but he did not seem especially bitter about it. "Many of my cousins like to occupy themselves with other things than protecting our only real source of food and supplies. They have their own ambitions, desires and whims, often choosing to just do as they please."

"They don't sound like very responsible people, based on what I am hearing."

"They sure are not," Tsagaan laughed. "Thy are a… _squabbling_ … collection of selfish gits that would do anything for power, from any source… Even if that power is dangerous to the soul..."

"And you?" Ruby asked, not exactly understanding what Tsagaan has said.

"Me?" Tsagaan replied as he lifted his water bottle. He held it in the air, shaking slightly it around, causing the water inside to splash. He looked with distant, cautious eyes at it as if the bottle was filled with some kind of poison. "I think it is polite to take a little…" He said as he took a small, determined sip from the bottle before setting it down to the ground.

Eventually Tsagaan was done with his portion of the bird, and he started preparing the next one since they were both still hungry, especially one of them, but no names. They chit chatted during all that time, mostly Tsagaan asking questions what it was like to be a "natural" Aura user as he said, whatever that meant for he did not say, as well as what was it like to live in Beacon and Vale. One of his most important questions was when he inquired if there are motorcycles in the Kingdom of Vale, and Ruby replied that there are indeed a lot of motorcycles in the Kingdom of Vale She even told how her sister had one..

After some time the birds were gone, and Ruby did not feel hungry anymore. And now when that immediate problem had been taken care of, Ruby started thinking about the important question that she had forgotten for a moment during their discussion: How was she going to get back home?

"By boat," Tsagaan said as Ruby asked about it from him. "There are regular ship leaving Laguna for Vacuo. Once you reach the Kingdom or one of the coast villages, you can probably hop into a cargo ship or even an airship heading for Vale, or at least call home. I am not exactly sure how the transportation situation between the Kingdoms is right now, but I hear it is somewhat difficult."

"Well that is good to hear," Ruby said with sigh of relief. "When is the next boat leaving?"

"I am not sure. We need to ask the villagers," Tsagaan said as he rose up, picked his sword and attached it into his belt. "Let's go ask them about it. Maybe their schedule is not so set in stone that they might be able to leave quite soon."

"That would be awesome," Ruby said with a smile, and followed Tasgaan down into the village.

By the evening, she was already on board a nice boat heading for Vacuo.

* * *

"You name is Nox?" Cerin asked with a spreading grin.

Nox was sitting on top of one of the few beds in the Neophyte chamber of the VIIIth legion. No one ever slept on these beds, for the yet to mature Legionnaires choose to rest in small holes that had been carved into the walls near the ceiling. Nox remembered how comfortable it was to sleep in one of them. It had been very nice back when he still did reasonable amount of sleeping. He missed those times.

"Ave Dominus Nox!" Cerin snickered violently as he kept jumping around Nox.

"Yes yes, I have heard all those jokes plenty of times before," Nox said as he fixed his eyes on the small frame of the Neophyte. "And every time you make that one again, I am going to cut a finger off you…" he said with brotherly smile as he flexed Dike Talon.

Cerin only snickered more.

"You know…" Nox said as he turned to watch at nothing in particular. "I have been gone for a while. Of the Legionnaires… The mature ones… Who are still alive, could you fill me up?"

Carin jumped to balance on the end of the table with his feet. His very human feet that were not like the mechanical claws that Nox had in place of his. "Well, let's see. You saw Shrike before. Then there are Maroos and Vermilion of the XVIIth."

"Warp worshipping fuckos…" Nox spat.

Cerin snickered more. "Smurfus is the one left of the XIIIth…" he counted with his fingers. Nox hoped somebody had bothered to teach him to count higher than the number of his fingers. "Hanging mostly with him are Flavius and Rustus. Dunstan is alive as well, I think. Have not seen him in a while though, he has been sticking to the company of his own and his neophytes for a while now. And then there are Slate and Tsagaan who I see very rarely since they spend so much time in Laguna."

"Hah, so that's how long the 'equal guard shifts' lasted," Nox snickered. Back in his days he had been charged with watching over Laguna only one time, and after that he had just said fuck it and never bothered again. It sounded like many others had as well.

"Grollo still alive and kicking, unlike the rest of the Wolves," Cerin informed. "Me and some other Neophytes got the ' _There are no Wolves in here_ '- sign ready for the door of the VIth Legion chambers if he happens to get killed before the next recruitment batch."

"Commendable effort," Nox declared. "Anyone else?"

Then there are Azuhrius and the Chief Apothecary Ceruleon-"

"What's with the title?" Nox asked.

Cerin shrugged. "Is he not suppose to be called by with the title always and ever?"

"No, never bother with it again. It sounds stupid."

"He is very particular about the title, but as you say, brother." Cerin said as he continued.

"Orchid of the Children, but have not seen him as well as the holder of his leash Azuhrius in a long while. I hear they left Terra to go on some super important secret mission or something in somewhere."

"They are at Beacon with me and Sangur," Nox replied.

"Who is Sangur?" Cerin asked.

"The last of the World Eaters, hangs out with me now. Anyone else?"

"No, that is all of them as far as I know," Cerin concluded. "Until my generation matures and the ranks swell again, that is all. There are at least 50 Neophytes beside me."

"So few… Nox mutered. "So very few..." He was glad the other Legions were not much better then the VIIIth. "How the mighty have fallen…"

"But you are here now," Cerin said with big eyes. "You are back to lead the VIIIth! We are going to rebuild the Legion!"

Nox chuckled with mixture of mirth and depression. He did not answer anything to Cerin.

"So what was this about Beacon?" Cerin asked curiously. "What is Beacon anyway?"

Nox scowled. "It… is a… place... where they train Aura wielding warriors in the central Kingdom. I am sure you have heard of huntsman academies. Beacon is one of those. I am currently living there with Sangur, Azuhrius and Orchid."

"Why?" cerin asked.

' _Why'_ \- such annoying little question. "I have my reasons," Nox growled silently.

Cerin was about to say something, but whatever it was remained unsaid as the door to the chamber was suddenly opened. Both of the Night Lords turned their heads towards the door. A Legionnaire stepped in through the open doorway, weapon in hand, which caused Nox to rise up with his own talons in readiness.

"So, you are back…" the Legionnaire of the VIIth legion said as he stepped inside, his own black weapon tightly gripped in his right hand. He did not seem to be on a kind mood.

"And what of it?" Nox asked with eyes slightly narrowed. His body tensed, ready to explode into motion with a the first sign of the person before him attacking.

"You abandoned this place…" Flavius Phalanx growled as he stared at Nox with angry blue eyes. He wore a yellow coat, with two black belts strapped unevenly across his chest with equipment pouches and a golden sigil of a fist surrounded by an eight pointed star. His short brown hair was barely visible under the large brass helmet he wore that only revealed his face. He had one shoulder guard of the same metal over his right shoulder, as well as two similar plates strapped over the thighs of his dark brown pants. In his hands he had a much damage sustained blade that had been somewhat messily painted black for some reason, as well as bright red wrist guards, and Nox took notice of the skull icon on them.

"Have you come into the service of the Blood God while I was gone?" Nox asked with a sneer.

"You left… Flavius ignored Nox's words. "You… YOU ABANDONED US!" He roared with bulging veins visible on his face. "YOU ABANDONED TERRA! YOUR LEGION! YOU ABANDONED YOUR BROTHERS!" He pointed at Cerin with the point of his black templar sword. "WHAT KIND OF LEGIONNAIRE OR A BROTHER DOES SOMETHING LIKE THAT?!"

Nox only stared at the furious warrior in front of him for a moment. He had not had any brothers alive when he left over a year ago. Terra was dying, as it had been dying ever since the end of the Heresy. Nox was not obliged to die with it. The anger of the Imperial Fist in front of him, caused by the simple fact that he Nox had done what he himself wanted and followed his own interest, amused Nox somewhat. "Oooh, what are you gonna do? Are you going to accuse of me being a traitor?" Nox sneered mockingly.

Flavius did not seem to be able for any good comeback to that, so he simply raised his sword and spat: "I am going to take your skull..."

"I am going to rip your eyes out and make them watch as I fley off your skin…" Nox answered with a dangerous tone as his claws spread, even as his senses were scanning the room for an escape route.

Before Flavius charged however, a sound from the door behind him cut in.

"Flavius, Flavius, please try to control yourself. We have no intent of harming Nox now that he has finally returned back to us," came a well controlled and in Nox's opinion sickeningly smooth toned and pompous voice. Smurfus of the XIIIth stood at the door, his left hand raised slightly in front of him in a semblance of peaceful gesture. "We have no grudge against Nox. We just want to talk…" Smurfus said as he turned and smiled at Nox.

Nox still kept most of his attention in Flavius. "What do you want, Smurfus?" he creaked sourly.

"As I said, I just want to talk," Smurfus said as he stepped deeper into the room, his large axe resting calmly against his shoulder with no care in the world. "Surely we can do that?"

"Send your lapdog away first. As a gesture of goodwill," Nox said as he nodded towards Flavius. "Then I will consider it…"

Smurfus nodded with still smile on his lips. "Flavius, please wait outside and make sure we are not disturbed. I will take care of this."

Flavius looked still angry, but lowered his sword and retreated out of the doors, spitting on the floor of the VIIIth Legion's chamber as he went. Nox had no doubt Flavius would have tried to kill him if Smurfus was not here. He cast one despising glance at Nox, which was returned, and then the door was closed after him. No death duel for now.

"I see you have met your recently inducted brother," Smurfus said as he stopped a safe distance away from the Night Lords, looking at Cerin hiding behind Nox. He planted the end of his axe's shaft against the stone floor and slightly leaned on it. "The new generation is coming, as you can see."

"What. Do you. Want," Nox said slickly, lowering his talons a bit now that the mad dog was out of the room.

"I want to discuss many matters with you. The present. The future. The Legions." Smurfus said as he got into the business. "Especially the future."

"I am listening," Nox said coolly.

Smurfus did not seem to be in a hurry and took on a very business like tone. "The times of change are upon us. I am sure you have heard of it, I hear you have had some quite significant interaction with Azuhrius." Smurfus could not fully hide the distaste towards the snake from his voice, which actually caused Nox to smile a bit. "I am sure you have noticed it. He has plans. Many of us have. Plans that will finally set Terra on the right path again."

"I am sure many have entertained those same thoughts during all the years of the Long War," Nox said smoothly. "You are not the first, but you might one of the last ones."

Smurfus raised his eyebrows a tad. "That seems rather pessimistic of you. The Long War is not even nearly over."

"Oh, but I think it is," Nox mused. "I don't know if you have watched around you, but I think the war has been lost. We lost the Long war, long, long time ago, Smurfus…" Nox looked around the chamber, or more like at the ruins where the scraps of Legions resided nowadays. "The Legions are finished. The Long War has ended."

"The Long War does not _end_." Smurfus said with patience and confidence. "Not until our final victory. Till that distant day, the Legions will wage it with all our might." Smurfus smiled and Nox could see the glint of ambition in his eyes. "No, the Long War is not over. In the height of our glory we were cast down, but we will rise again. The world of Remant is out there, ours for the taking. Ours to conquer, ours to do as we will!"

Smurfus' gaze looked upwards into nothingness for a second before he fixed his gray eyes back to Nox. "And you can be part of that, Nox. You, and _your_ VIIIth Legion. I have great plans for the wars to come, and I need allies to share them with."

"I think I will pass," Nox said almost yawning. "I have no faith in your visions, Smurfus.

And I have even less faith in all allies you are willing work with to further your goals. I would not involve myself in anything that is supported by the powers of the Warp. You are an idiot if you think you achieve anything you desire with their blessings."

"The Gods are a valuable ally and all their power is a vital tool to be used. That is the reality of Legions, weather you want to accept that or not," Smurfus said calmly. "None of us would be standing today if we did not use all the assets and opportunities available to us."

"Warp is a sickness," Nox said as he spat on the floor. "Its help is a cancer you are inviting into your mind and soul."

"What about Sangur?" Smurfus countered. "If it is as you say, isn't you friend quite sick then?"

"Keep him out of this." Nox snarled. He realized just then that Smurfus hoped to get the support of the XIIth Legion as well through Nox. The sly bastard.

"The Warp had can offer so many things, Nox" Smurfus said, almost giving off Word Bearer like vibes as he said that. "We are already connected to it, that is a unchangeable fact, so why not use its gifts and tools? I am not saying to devote yourself to them or abbandoning caution and common sense, but they can offer great things in exchange of things we can easily provide." He looked at the mechanical legs Nox had. "Imagine, they might even give your old legs back, or give you new or better ones to walk on."

Nox glanced down. For a moment, he actually seemed to feel in one moment all the aches and irritations caused by the mechanical replacements over the years. For that they were, mechanical replacements that never fully in all their good craftsmanship were able to match genuine flesh and bone. Nox lifted his gaze. "Better crippled in body than tainted in mind…" he growled.

Smurfus seemed to move onwards. "Two Legions already stand with me," he said with a pleased grin. "Flavius and his VIIth are with me, as well as Rustus' XIVth, are both standing with _my_ XIIIth. You would do well to join us. Join us and we will crush our enemies and build a new empire for us. There will be much in the wars to come for you."

Nox eyed Smurfus carefully. He was sure Smurfus was not alone with such aspirations.

"Our enemies? That would not happen to mean Azuhrius as well?" Nox asked.

Smurfus smiled knowingly. "He has gotten greedy and ambitious, that little viper. He already holds much sway here in Terra, especially with his brother controlling the recruitment and Orchid supporting him. I would not see him rise to lead in the wars of the future. He is not fit to lead any Legions."

Now Nox actually let out a burst of laughter. "What, you think Azuhrius wants to be a Warmaster of something?"

Smurfus observed Nox with steady eyes. "You don't think he would do it if allowed? Why not someone like him?"

Nox ceased his snickering instantly as he thought about all Smurfus had said so far. "Or perhaps someone like you…" He narrowed his eyes at the ambiguous look on Smurfus' eyes. "Why not indeed..."

Smurfus did not say anything to that and there was a moment of silence between them.

"We have a big endeavor coming up very soon," Smurfus said at last. "Something that will allow us to make an impact upon this world like nothing we have seen in long years. Your help would be appreciated. You would see that I mean what I say. Things are going to change, and being in right terms with the right people when they do would be most wise..."

"I still think I am keeping out of this for now," Nox said with unfaltering voice. "Are we done here?"

Smurfus and Nox looked at each other for a long time before the Ultramarine finally turned towards the door. "My offer still stands, to you and to the VIIIth." He said as he opened the way out of the chamber. "You might come to see you need allies, and that whatever you have with Azuhrius is not worth sticking with."

"I will keep that in mind," Nox said without fully closing any possibilities. Smurfus was an arrogant and greedy bastard, and Nox did not see him beating Azuhrius in any rivalry they might have, at least at the moment. But the times and situations changed. Smurfus closed the door and was gone.

"What a delusional bastard," Cerin sneered as he jumped up from the bed to stand with Nox.

"I don't understand how you can hide you hate of XIIIth so well."

"I don't hate the XIIIth," Nox said as he shrugged.

Cerin looked at him with some puzzlement. "What, you don't?"

"No," Nox said calmly. " I think... Utramarines have an important role among the Legions of Terra and are a vital part of building a new future..."

There was a complete silence in the dark room for a while. Then Nox let out a snort. Then Cerin let out a snort. Then the both of the brothers burst out with great laughter.

* * *

 **I think next time we will finally be getting started with the thing the Legions are up to. First there is going to be a little trip to nowhere important, and the ones going to this trip are none of the main four Legionnaires from Beacon. I look forward to developing the others.**

 **Tsagaan Khurdan of the White Scars and Flavius Phalanx of the Imperial Fists.** **Gotta update Profile and that DevianArt picture again.**

 **Leave a review, if you feel it in your heart, and have a nice day.**


	36. Chapter 35

**Has anybody seen the new 40k map that came with the 8th edition? Because there is a planet named "Salem" in the bottom right corner...**

 **In other news, here is a new chapter. Lots of Legion stuff again. Also, remember that young byy that was taken by Caruleon at the end of V2?**

* * *

 **Chaos is the Prize chapter 35**

 _ **"In raising these men to watch over mankind, we have bred a legion of inhumans whose sole purpose is to defend that which they no longer understand. Their duty, borne with pride; their curse, carried with grace - but let it never be forgotten what we have done to Caliban's finest sons.**_

 _ **Unending Imperial ambition has not bred warriors with the warm hearts of men, but angels with the cold hearts of weapons.'**_

 _ **No soul so changed will recover what was lost. No weapon so savage can be wielded without cost."**_

 _ **-The Verbatim, Lutherian Amendments**_

"Are you leaving already?" Cerin asked as Nox opened the door of the chamber, about to step out.

Nox glanced back at the small Neophyte that followed him to the door. The little guy was so far away from maturity, and Nox found himself strangely kinda hoping he would live long enough to reach full elevation. "I must go. I need to return to Beacon. I have already been away long enough," he said as he stepped outside. But the space behind the door was not empty, there was someone waiting outside, standing in front of a different door close by. A Legionnaire.

"What, you just came back and now you are leaving already," came the soft accented voice and Nox turned to find Tsagaan standing in the main chamber. The Warrior of the Vth Legion stood in front of the XIXth Legion chamber door, seemingly about to enter. What business he could possibly have there, Nox did not bother to guess nor care.

"I need to go," Nox simply grunted as he turned to give Tsagaan a quick look over. The Scar seemed well, which surprised Nox somewhat. He had always thought Tsagaan as very weak and foolish, and was baffled how he yet lived unlike so many others. "Sangur is there and needs me to keep him out of trouble. I must return before they start questioning why I not in the Academy."

"Oh yeah, I heard something about that," Tsagaan mused, before seemingly realizing something. "Wait, the huntsman school you attend is called Beacon, right?"

Nox lifted his brow a bit. "Yes?"

"What a coincidence… " Tsagaan simply replied. Nox almost cared enough to ask what Tsagaan meant by that. "I heard it is a quite… interesting place," Tagaan continued.

"You should take my place," Nox murmured. "You would fit right in all those soft fancy mancy kids playing warriors…"

Tasgaan chuckled. "Oh, nothing would ever get me to join such an institute. You know, Azuhrius actually asked if I wanted to come with him, can you imagine?."

Nox was surprised quite a bit by that. The fact that the snake had trusted Tsagaan enough to ask him to join his misadventure baffled Nox. Not because Tagaan was untrustworthy, but because Azuhrius was. "Really? Why didn't you?"

Tsagaan shrugged. "Somebody needs to guard Laguna, and I can't just leave it completely to Slate." He replied lightly. "And I have no faith nor trust in Huntsmen schools. After all, all Emperors and headmasters are liars…" He said with much colder tone.

"You said it," Nox said in agreement. "I leaving now."

Tsagaan nodded "Until we meet again, cousin."

* * *

"Yeah, right," Nox snarled to Tsagaan as he turned to go.

Cerin watched his recently discovered brother go, simply looking at his back that was moving away. Why did he have to go? What possible reason could he have to return to this "Beacon" place. Cerin kept looking after Nox until he could see the older Legionnaire no more.

 _Maybe I should have gone with him._

"Don't worry," Tsagaan said next to Cerin. "You will see you brother again."

Cerin lifted his gaze to look up at the scar faced Legionnaire. "How can you say that for sure?"

Tsagaan smiled slightly as he leaned to grab the door handle of the XIXth Legion Neophyte chamber. "Well of course I can't say for sure, I simply have that kind of feeling." He pushed the door open. "He is a living weapon, and he craves for the company of other living weapons. I am sure you can understand the feeling." Tsagaan entered the room.

Cerin leaned into look in the revealed chamber behind the door. Shrike was in there, sitting in center of the poorly lit room with his legs crossed. There were Neophytes around him, other than just from the XIXth. There were Salamanders, White Scars, Blood angels, and even one very lost looking Death Guard. They were surrounding Shrike, some even climbing onto to sit on his wings that showed no signs of buckling under the weight.

The beaked mask of the oldest Legionnaire rose up from a large book he had been reading to look at Cerin and Tsagaan.

"May we join you, Kierana?" Tsagan asked with respect.

"Oh, yes yes, come in, come in," Shrike chirped hoarsely as he beckoned them in. Tsagaan walked forward and proceeded to take a seat across from Shrike. Shrike's eyes turned to Cerin who was still standing by the door. "Come in, come in, youngling." Shrike rasped. "Come to sit and listed with your cousins."

Cerin walked in, closing the door behind him and taking his place in the circle beside of Neophytes and Tsagaan.

"Come and listen," Shrike said as he lifted the old book in his lap. "Listen, listen as this old raven tells stories of the past. Stories of the Primarch, who was also a raven, the greatest of ravens…"

* * *

Nox was heading for the exit, but the route he chose traveled rather close to one particular location in the catacombs. So on a whim, he decided to take one last detour before leaving this cursed place behind.

The space he entered was massive. It was a vast hall, longer than many others the Legions still used. It had once been a simple area of travel between the different locations, but the collapse of many of the forking corridors had caused it to become a large, almost closed chamber instead. The space was rather empty, for the only meaningful things in the hall were hanging from the walls.

Plates of metal, some crafted to a form of some sort like a shield or a flame, were lining the walls, row after row after row on top of each other. Each of them had writing in them, at least a name if nothing else. The Hall of the Fallen it was called, and it was here that only real records of the existence of individual Legionnaires were held.

Each of the metal plates was like a gravestone of a Legion warrior dead in the Long War. The Warriors name and Legion was carved into the metal, as well as any deeds of worth if there were any, but most of them were empty of such things. There were probably a hundred unworthy warriors who had their deed eternalized into the metal, and a thousand warriors who would have deserved litanies of their deed, yet their plate remained empty of such honors.

Nox walked deeper into the walls, the metal plates gleaming in the poorly lighting around him. There were _thousands_ of them. Nox did not know how many, nor did he care to count. He did not want to know.

They were not organized in any way, so warriors from different Legions had their memory immortalized side by size in rag tag collection of the dead. Nox could see names he did not recognize, ame she had not ever heard of. Sometimes a particularly decorated testament of deeds catches his eye, causing him to spare a glance at the memory of some long gone champion.

Most of the plates had a simple Legion symbol in them, or at least a number. Legion identities could be seen reflected on the grave plates as well. Some, like the IIIrd and XIIIth, displaying much more decorations than average, the Colchisian runes on the XVIIth, and the tribalistic imageries of the IInd, Vth and VIth. One particular quirk like this was with the XXth. None of their plates had any honor recordings, every single one of them simply sportted one identical sentence: " _A true Alpharius._ " under the name of the fallen.

"What was won? What was lost? Will our deeds be remembered?" Nox muttered quietly to himself.

As Nox washed his gaze across the hall, he suddenly spotted a person hunched near the other long wall. The robed cultists slave was holding a metal plate, seemingly a new addition to the long list of death.

Nox approached the figure, and the slave turned around as he got closer. The woman was old, her hair showing very visible graying and her face had not been young in years. "My Lord" she said with a slight bow as Nox stopped to loom over her. "Nox…" she whispered after observing him for a moment. "Is that you?"

"It is me," Nox said without much care for the slave, focusing on the metal in her hands. It was a work in progress testament to a dead warrior, one form the XIXth apparently based on the picture of a Raven the slave was in the middle of carving into the piece of metal with a worn tool.

Her name was Siena, and she was the oldest living being in Terra, not counting the immortal Deamon Sythonax of course. She was over three times older than Nox, and had been here in these ruins long before all the currently living Legionnaires had even born. She had seen much over the years, and had survived unlike so many Legionnaires around her. She was the one who took care of updating the Hall of the Fallen.

Her orange brown eyes were slightly paled by the age as he looked at Nox, the wrinkled face portraying a look that Nox did not know how to read. She was missing some of her teeth, and her neck was scarred from a time Legionnaire had tried to strangle her. Nox was pretty sure that particular Legionnaire's skull was still somewhere in Shrike's chambers, from where it was brought forth every year when it was time to "celebrate" the end of Legion Wars and hoisted up into the top of a decorated war tree.

"Are you here for you brothers?" Siena asked, guessing somehow the reason for Nox's visit.

"Where are their records?" Nox replied, for he did know where the plates of the three Legion brothers he had known were, since he had left Terra right after their deaths. The slave pointed to the other side of the hall, at the bottom row.

"How have you been, Nox?" the cultists serf asked as Nox looked at where she was pointing, finding what he was looking for.

Nox did not answer and simply walked away from the slave, leaving her to work. He found the testament of the existence of his brothers side by side, all three of them showing the winged skull of the Legion over their names, but no mention of anything they had done or who they had been. Nox was glad his own name was not hanging alongside them, even as he wished the three pieces of metal were not there in the first place.

The three of them were quite close, by change, to another plate that was a bit higher than them. One form another Legion that was actually sporting some eternalized deeds under the warrior's name. Nox had long ago personally ensured that the dead Legionnaire had received some markings of his life beside his name, that he was slightly less forgotten like so many before him.

The warrior had done something for Nox, something Nox could never repay. It was thanks to this warrior that Nox had something to walk with after the Xenos had mutilated him. Nox flicked the talons of his metal legs subconsciously. The Legionnaire had been a quite resourceful and talented with metalworks, and in this age when talent with weaponcraft were in short supply, his steady hands would have certainly been needed. His steady, firm, Iron Hands.

* * *

There was pain. So much pain. And confusion. The confusion was not as tormenting as the pain, but it was an agony completely of its own class. The thoughts…. The thoughts that flooded his head and clawed at him his every waking hour and and even the ones he slumbered in the realm of unconsciousness. The thoughts… It was scary, so scary… because the thoughts were in his head, but they were not his thoughts. Or were they? That scared him even more.

He was changing. He could feel it in his blood, mind and soul. Bit by bit, he was leaving something very human behind, he could sense it. And what was taken away was replaced by… something completely different. Something he could not understand. But he would, in time.

He kept seeing glimpses of things he had not seen before in his life. Fragments of memories that were not his own, dancing hypnotically inside his skull. They offered information one fragment at the time. He could not yet quite decipher any of it, but with every piece the image grew clearer. He kept seeing, hearing and sensing things like the Legion, the War, and something… someone very important called... the Primarch...

Yes, there was pain, but there was meaning in that pain, something that required all the suffering. At first it was only torment of his nerves, but as the time went by, he started to feel the change, the progress. There was helplessness, uncertainty and fear before, but it was all fading away, slowly, slowly… And in return he gained strength, he gained conviction, he gained _power_ … and power was quite intoxicating.

The more he felt the pain reshape him into something more powerful, he came to see his previous life in a completely new way. Humans… _Normal_ Humans, the _others,_ they were so weak. Humans were frail, humans were uncertain, and they were scared of _everything_ … He found he could not understand how anyone could live that way… How the lesser beings could live that way. He did not understand, anymore at least. The more time passed, the more alien all his previous humanity felt like.

Time…

How long had he been here? Where was he? Who was he?

He had a name… yes, he definitely had a name. He had been called Gavin… It felt like he had not been called that in a very long time, despite some small part of him telling it had not been that long. The name was only part of him that stayed with him. It was one of the few aspects of his identity was was not thrown into turmoil by the thoughts that stormed in his head.

His eyes snapped open. Had he been unconscious? Had he been half awake? He did not know. He found he could not move, his limbs and head had been restrained against a flat surface. His eyes moves sloppily, scanning the few things he was able to see without moving his head.

He could see the gray stone ceiling, dotted by few light bulbs that were hanging from haphazard wires. On the his sides, he could see gleaming metal tables, and all sorts of instruments on them he knew not the purpose of.

Yes… the Apothecarion… that's where he was. Where his pain, his change had begun.

Then he saw a face coming from the edge of his vision to loom over him. His vision seemed a bit crocky and it was hard to focus on things, but he could make out the blue hair and green eyes of the Apothecary… _Chief_ Apothecary…

"How do you feel?" A voice asked. It came from the lips of the looming face a bit out of sync with the movements of the mouth. He struggle to bring some focus into himself.

"It… hurts…" he sobbed. "It hurts… so much…"

"I know…" the Chief Apothecary replied. "It is a pain that one will never quite forget. All power requires sacrifice. And pain."

"What… what is happening to me?" He asked with a frail voice. The confusion, the confusion was a terrible feeling. He could not be quite sure what was real anymore, what was just in his head, and the feeling of uncertainty caused him great despair.

"Elevation." The Chief Apothecary said patiently. "You are becoming one of us, brother…"

"I… I…" He could not finish the sentence, his mind or lips failed him, he was not sure which.

The Chief Apothecary took something from one of the tables. It was a needle, a syringe, and after a moment he sunk it into the flesh of the boy in front of him.

He did not feel the needle pierce his skin, his muscles were cramping so hard that the sting of something so small did not register.

"What is your name…" The Chief Apothecary asked as he lifted the syringe filled with blood and observed it.

"Ga… Gavin…" He managed to utter, though his left ear did not hear the words for some reason, causing him to question if he had managed to speak in the first place… "Gavin..." he repeated…

The Chief Apothecary smiled. "Not for long," he said. "Soon you will know what to answer, what I want to hear, when I ask you of your name." He turned half away. " But I guess I need to come up with a new real name for you as well. I will give it some though."

"Why…" Gavin squealed silently. He was not exactly sure what he was asking, or what he was expecting for an answer, but he asked anyway. "Why…"

A small laughter escaped the Chief Apothecary's lips. "You know, I also asked that same question once. Back when it was me on the operation table, going through the implantation procedure. I asked ' _Why_ '."

The Chief Apothecary fixed his gleaming green eyes on Gavin. "And I did not get the answer, not then, for I was not yet part of the Legion. _However_ , after my elevation was complete, I was revealed the answer to the question ' _Why_ '. And what an answer it was, what an answer indeed... It explained _everything_ , much more than what I had intended when I spoke the question. It explained why _we,_ do what we do, why we _did_ what we did long ago, back during the Heresy. It was all revealed to me… All of it..."

"What… what was it?" Gavin asked desperately. He needed to know. He needed to know.

The blue haired boy smirked. "That I cannot tell you, for you are not of the Legion…"

He took something from a metal table."Yet..."

His serpentine smile was wide, and for a moment Gavin though he saw a forked tongue when the Chief Apothecary spoke. "But if you want an answer now… well, for the true Emperor of course," he chuckled to himself.

"W- who?" Gavin asked in confusion. He did not like the confusion. He wanted know something that would make the confusion end. "There… is no... Emperor on Remnant…"

"No, there is not." Chief Apothecary replied as he turned some sharp object to point at Gavin. "We made sure of it..."

He spasmed, and then darkness took him again. Darkness that failed to fully shut out the thoughts and the pain. And especially the confusion.

* * *

"Ceuleon!" Came a shout from another chamber.

The head of the Chief Apothecary snapped up from where he was leaning over the unconscious Neophyte. He was in a small chamber, a separate operating room of the main Apothecarium. The recently arrived Neophyte was the the only occupant of the room. There were no other Neophytes in the middle of the elevation procedure, he was the sole project in Ceruleons hands. He was a special case. Ceruleon could not let anyone find out.

"I am Coming!" Ceruleon yelled as he put away his instrument and checked the child's vitals one more time before heading towards the door. He opened the firm lock, slipping out and locking it again from outside. He turned to face the main Apothecarium chamber, and the only other occupant standing near the only exit.

"What is it?" Ceruleon asked as he walked closer to Maroos.

"I need something." Maroos said as his golden eyes curiously looked at the door Cerulean had just locked. "Were you in the middle of something?"

"Just some testing, nothing new." Ceruleon lied effortlessly. "I am constantly trying to improve the survival rates of the implantation procedure. It is a never ending task. What did you need?"

Maroos turned to look at Ceruleon. He had his Crozius and Book of Lorgar with him as he always did, but there was a large backpack hanging over his shoulder that captured Ceruleon's attention. Was he going somewhere?

"Temporary reclamation capsules." The "Dark Apostle" said with his smooth voice, his gaze taking a quick sweep at the chamber as if seeking the objects of his request. "I need some."

"Why?" Ceruleon asked with surprise. The reclamation capsules were sterile containers that could be used to store harvested Genseed for a while if there was no proper Narthecium available. They were simple improvised capsules that with combination with ice dust kept the Geneseed in secure state until it could be stored more permanently. Ceruleon had given them out couple of times to people heading to the surface when there was a hight change of casualties.

"Where are you going?" Ceruleon asked. "Our grand operation is not scheduled till much later this month. All of us are not here yet. We have much preparation to do before that."

Maroos smiled. "This is exactly that, preparation. Me and some others are heading out to Mars to secure a vital part of the mission. Something I know we need to succeed in our attack, I have seen it in the tides of the Warp."

"Mars?!" Ceruleon exclaimed, that one word capturing all of his attention. He definitely had not expected that. Expeditions to the ruins of Mechanicum did not usually end well. The place was crawling with Grimm, and other very nasty things leftover from the times of the Heresy. "Why in the Warp would you go there? What vital part of the mission? This is the first time I am hearing anything like that."

"You did not need to know. Smurfus wanted to keep it a secret until we sent out. I assumed you would not want to join us even if we had asked you, and you are too valuable to risk on a endeavor like this anyway," Maroos explained. "I trust you understand why we need the reclamation capsules."

"I do indeed," Ceruleon said. "You are going to die. Forces of Legionnaires many times the size of anything we can muster have tried laying claim to the treasures of Mars. And we both know how most of them have ended. You will never reach anything worth the risk, or get back alive even if you did."

"We are not going too deep," Maroos assured without convincing Ceruleon one bit. "We are not trying to reach the weapon forges of the deeps, just the upper levels will be enough for our needs. Just give us the capsules, cousin."

Ceruleon observed the Word Bearer for a moment before turning to move for one of the closets lining the walls. He opened it, retrieving a basket holding capsules made of half transparent material. There were caps containing ice dust in the ends that could be activated to cover the container in ice that would keep any organic material sealed inside cool for a limited time. Ceruleon took them and returned to Maroos. "There. Take as many as you need. Try not to use them all…" He said with a dark smirk.

"I hope there will be no need for them, but better to be ready for anything," Maroos said as he picked up several capsules from the basket and moved them into his backback.

"What do hope to achieve with this?" Ceruleon asked as Maroos turned towards the stairs leading out of the Apothecarium. "If you are not after Legion weapons or armor, what is that you hope to find from the upper levels of Mars?" Ceruleon could not guess what this "vital part" was that Maroos thought was possible to retrieve.

Maroos glanced back. "Just one particular, little, almost insignificant, technological achievement of our old Empire…"

* * *

The Neophytes crossed their wooden practice swords again, the clank of the barely holding out wood echoing in the small makeshift arena. They were using wooden ones, even though metal ones would not have been much dangerous, because there simply were not metal ones available anywhere for them. Wooden ones were easy to make, even if they had to be replaced rather often, for they wore out quickly in the brutal training no matter the slight durability boost they got from their wielder's Aura.

There were four of the young Legionnaires in the chamber, all from the same Legion. _His_ Legion. He was one of the few who had managed to keep his young brothers from getting killed by Grimm, or their young cousins. During the last recruitment batch, every Legion with the exception of the cult Legions had received four male childs to be implanted with their Progenitor's Geneseed. His was one of the few cases with no fatalities during the implantation, and he was one of the only two Legions that still had all of the original four alive. And he would try to keep it that way. They would wage war, yes, but only after they were mature. When all the other Legions had exhausted their recruit numbers early on.

The Neophytes parted, the two separate duels coming to an end almost at same time. None of them were equal, some were clearly better than others, but they were still able to give each other a challenge. But they would have to get better.

"We need new swords," Dunstan said after he stood up and circled around the Neophytes standing in attention with their practice weapons raised up. He picked up one of the swords, observed it and snapped it effortlessly in half with his armored hand after judging it had reached the end of its road. "You two, go retrieve new ones," He calmly ordered to of his young brothers as he returned to where he had been sitting and observing the sparring matches. He sat down again, just as the two Neophytes of the Ist Legion exited the training chamber.

One of the remaining Neophytes kept practicing sword swings with his weapon without an opponent, striking in fast thrusts and powerful slashes at the air around him. His fighting style was more driven by his fury rather than by technique, but that was not a bad thing. Skill was nothing without the zeal to fuel it. A good warrior, a good Legionnaire, possessed both.

The other of the Legionnaires in the middle of his elevation, the one who was now weaponless because Dunstan had broken his weapon, approached the older Legionnaire. He did not sit down next to Dunstan, but respectfully remained standing by his side as they both observed the practicing Neophyte.

"You are leaving soon, right?" Obsidiel asked from Dunstan.

"Yes," The older brother said as he rested his hand on the pommel of his black sword that was standing point to the floor in front of him. His collapsible helmet was open, showing his face as he glanced at the Neophyte. "Keep you brothers in check while I am gone. No fighting with the other Legion in any circumstances. If I come back and find that any of you have died, I am going to make the survivors suffer."

"We will not disappoint you!" Obsidiel said with conviction.

"Make sure that you do not," Dunstan simply replied.

The two of them were quiet for a moment, simply watching their brother spar against an imaginary opponent. The boy was making some small sloppy mistakes now that he did not actually have an enemy trying to best him. His footwork was too slow, his stance poor at times. But Dunstan did not say anything. Dunstan suffered the Neophyte's imperfection rather than remarked about it. He would get better when he got actual battle experience, no need to humiliate him front of his brother for something small like that. Dunstan would have liked not to antagonize his younger cousins against each other. Let them have have their rivalries, but it had to be controlled. He had to control their young passion and impulses.

"The times are changing…" Dunstan said quietly to Obsidiel. "We will be not caged by these old ruins much longer, one way or the other. The outside world is no longer but a distant dream to us, like has been to those before us."

"Our rise is inevitable," Obsidiel said confidently, and Dunstan wanted to believe those words. It was tempting to believe in them, but one must not become blinded by such thoughts. Fate was not a certainty, but an unwritten path forged into form by those strong enough to shape it. But there were always countless others on that road as well, eager to bend the future into their image. A certain caution had to be maintained in everything.

"Our rise is a possibility, one that we will do everything to achieve," Dunstan said. He knew it did not sound too inspiring, but he did not feel like sounding that way right now.

"It will happen," Obsidiel said with the conviction of youth and inexperience. "You will lead us, the Legion, into glory and victory in the name of the Primarch. I know that."

A small smile actually formed on Dunstan's lips. The Neophytes were curious things. They possessed so much optimism and faith that was not displayed as clearly in the mature Legionnaires, in most cases at least. Their minds were still in the middle of being shaped by the Geneseed they carried in their bodies, and all that hormonal mess in their head made them quite eccentric and eager, just alike an aspiring warrior should be.

"In the name of the Primarch..." Dunstan repeated. There was a small pause before he continued, filled with the silent swoosh of a single moving wooden sword. "There was once thousands of us... Thousands of warriors of Caliban. And now… there are the five of us. Me, you, your brothers."

Dunstan removed his gray eyes from practicing Neophyte in the middle of the room, choosing to focus instead in nothing in particular as his eyes stared blankly and thoughtfully at the gray walls of the chamber. "I think about it often…" he said with quiet voice, almost whispering. "The world. The Imperium is no more, the world outside that has moved on without us. Remnant is now ruled by frightened weaklings that cannot hope to prevail against the might of the beasts. The Primarch is no more. His war against the beasts ended long time ago, yet the beasts are stronger and more numerous than ever…"

"We will end them. Just as we will all our enemies," Obsidiel said, before the Neophyte turned his gaze as the door of the chamber opened. But on the door was not the two brothers with new swords.

Dunstan looked at Maroos of the XVIIth Legion, nodding as he realized it was time to go. He rose up, moving to hang his sword from his belt. He checked his wrist mounted bolt weapon quickly, addressing Obsidiel while he did it. "Keep training, remember my words and heed them," he said to the Neophyte. "I will return soon," he promised as his helm emerged from behind his neck, covering his face from sight with a armored visage of a knight.

He went to Maroos, and the two of them left the training chamber of the Ist Legion behind, with intention of traveling to place that had once been the most advanced sanctum of technological knowledge in the world.

* * *

 **Did anyone actually expect Ceruleon to say something that would provide any real info about anything?**

 **So we are going to Mars, if anyone cares about an insignificant place like that.**

 **Leave a review, if you feel it in your heart, and have a nice day.**


	37. Chapter 36

**With this chapter, most of the Legionnaires have received their introductions. There are still couple of Neophytes, but the important ones are done.**

* * *

 ** _Chaos is the Prize chapter 36_**

 ** _"_** ** _Watch for the devil. When there's a god, there's always a legion of devils."_**

 ** _―_** ** _Maggie Stiefvater_**

The dinerium was a high ceiling square chamber filled with large tables, most of them covered in dust. The wall at the end of the chamber was filled with random scribbling, crisscrossing lines of text that denied each other from being readable, except for a massive "Death to the False Emperor" that dominated that wall with letters the size of small Beowolves. Other iconic and most importantly readable things were "Three black wearing Legions is enough." and "Kill for the living, kill for the dead."

Two Legionnaires were waiting for Dunstan and Maroos as they entered the chamber from one of the entrances. Smurfus was sitting on a seat by the closest table, Vermilion standing next to him with the eight pointed standard held proudly in his hand. Both of them turned to face the new arrivals as they approached.

"Dunstan is here, so that makes four." Maroos said next to Dunstan as they stopped, the "Apostle" quickly scanning the room as if looking for more people. "Where are the others?"

Dunstan did not know exactly who else would be joining for this endeavour, he had not cared to find out. He knew Maroos and Vermilion would be coming, as they were the ones who came up with the whole idea, and Smurfus of course did not want to be left out, so he probably would be bringing his own allies with him.

"Flavius is in the Neophyte chamber, he will be here when he is done," Smurfus grunted as he fiddled with his large axe, testing the blade with his thump.

The Neophyte chamber was practically next to the dinerium, so Flavius would be here any minute, Dunstan thought, as indeed it did not take long for the Fist to enter from the entry way on the other side of the room.

"Hold this place!" He bellowed to someone way behind him, most likely the Neophytes of the VIIth Legion.

"Only death will move us!" Dunstan could hear the distant cry of reply, the young voice echoing in the corridor with couple of others.

Flavius stopped on his tracks. "What?!" he roared into the tunnel.

"I mean, not even death will move us!" came a hasty correction.

"That's better!" Flavius yelled with approval. "Do not kill anyone when I am not around!"

"Don't kill everyone, got it!"

Flavius joined the circle of Legionnaires, taking his place by his de facto leader Smurfus. The two of them had always seen eye to eye, and their cooperation had seen them become quite powerful in the eternal struggle of Terra. Their alliance had made Dunstan cautious of them and consider getting allies for himself as well, but who was left nowadays?

Azuhrius and his allies? They were the primary rivals of Smurfus and Dunstan did not want to get caught in any of it. He hoped they would kill each others at some point and clean to way for him.

Maroos? The zealot was playing an interesting game and was not taking any side, seemingly getting along with everyone. By his own words, his eyes were directed more towards the future, which either meant he had some ethereal insight the rest of them were unaware of, or he was just a crazy talker, could be eithe or a little of both.

Tsagaan? Hah. Slate? What an ally…

No, it was wiser to stay alone at this point and wait. Wait for better opportunities emerge. His Legion was growing, and would the largest Legion at this rate, almost as big as itself than some of the allied Legions combined.

"So, we leaving or not?" Flavius asked impatiently.

"We are still waiting for the last of us to show up," Smurfus replied.

"Who else is coming?" Dunstan asked, turning to Smurfus. "I am assuming XIVth Legion is coming?" It would only make sense for Smurfus to bring all his allies if he was going.

"He is," Smurfus confirmed.

Dunstan was just about to ask if there still was someone, but at that moment two Legionnaires emerged from the corridor, causing him to frown disapprovingly inside his helmet at the sight.

One of the warriors was a giant, the largest Legionnaire alive in Terra, his heavy footsteps echoing in the large chamber. His massive bulk was only made greater by the "armor" he wore.

Rustus Pestilitas was completely covered in highly rusted scrap metal that hung around him like a very strange ghillie suit, hiding all of the bloated flesh from sight. His face was covered by a single screen gasmask, and he had a thick large metal chest plate chained into his torso by thick chains wrapping around him, slightly eaten by corrosion. Only a warrior of the Death Guard could make such an armor work, and work really well in fact.

The hulking form of Rustus was holding his weapon in his right hand, carrying it over his shoulder. Calling it a weapon was serious a compliment, for the thing was little more than a large hunk of metal beaten into the general shape of a very large maul.

The smell coming from him was sickening, rotting meat mixed with corroded metal and other less distinguishable foul odors. The smell was not intolerable if one kept his distance, but it was impossible to ignore completely.

The second Legionnaire was actually even worse than the first one, but not because of any physical trait like smell (though he did have a disturbing odor of his own). Dunstan just really did not get along with this warrior.

The Legionnaire next to Rustus was clad in brown tunic and black pants, on top of which he wore a relatively fine crafted armor consisting of a gray breastplate, knee pads, as well as wrist,shoulder and shin guards. The different metal pieces were in many places decorated by tribalistic runes that circled the Legionnaire's frame. A large double headed wolf of Morkai was depicted in the middle of his breastplate, with a red gem of Wulfenite (yes, that is a thing) in the middle.

Under the buckle of his black belt was an head of a wolf cast from iron, the coad piece tying up a gray fur belt that fell from his waist. In his hands were fingerless gloves with spiked knuckles, holding a two bladed axe also decorated with Fenrisian runes, called Morkai's Bite.

His dark brown hair flowed onto his shoulders, couple of braided bangs flanking his rough face that formed feral features. His yellow eyes were observing the room like a hound assessing hunting grounds. Grollo Bloodaxe was his name, the last living Wolf in Terra, or anywhere on the planet. Especially in the ruins of Fenris. There were no Wolves in Fenris.

"Are we all here?" Rustus' rasping words came from the depths of his gasmask. He moved to take his place next to Smurfus, both Flavius and Smurfus displaying no signs of being disturbed by the smell.

"We are," Maroos said. "Ceruleon is not coming, and Slate and Tsagaan stay behind to look after Laguna. Shrike stays to make sure Neophytes don't do anything foolish while we are not here."

"It is not often we come together like this," Smurfus said as his gaze scanned the circle of warriors around him.

"More like never," Dunstan corrected.

"A common goal demands it." Maroos mused.

"The Gods demand it," Vermilion groaned fanatically. "This is a holy mission ordered by the divine octet!"

"Shut up, Vermilion," Flavius snarled. "Nobody gives a shit."

Vermilion eyed the Fist angrily but held his tongue.

"What Vermilion said is true," Maroos said. "The path we are about to take was indeed shown to us by the Gods. It was path that will lead us to victory, if we prove ourselves worthy."

"It is a dangerous path," Dunstan remarked. "Is that why we have so many Legionnaires to absorb the blows?" He was looking at Grollo as he said this, his black helmet hiding the distaste from his eyes but not his voice. The old feud between Ist and VIth always lifted its head when they met like this, the years of the Long War had done little to quench the animosity left behind by the Knight King of the Caliban and the Great Wolf, even as many of the other Legions forgot old feuds and created new ones.

Grollo looked back with his wild yellow eyes. "I am here just for the battle," He snarled nonchalantly. "You sure you can keep up when we enter Mars, whelp of a knight? I heard it is a rough place, and someone like you might not survive it."

"I will live long after the Xenos rip you to shreds," Dunstan replied coldly, his hand grasping the hilt of his sword more firmly.

"This is not time for us to be fighting amongst ourselves," Maroos tried to intervene raising his hands in a solitary gesture.

"You shut up, word whisperer," Grollo spat."I am here like you asked but don't think a spineless bastard like you hold any say over me."

"Don't you dare to speak to the Apostle that way!" Vermilion exclaimed in outrage and stepped closer.

There was giant SMACK as Grollo's fist flailed in a blink of an eye and backhanded Vermilion right in the face, the tremendous blow sending the Word Bearer flying across the hall and smashing against a wall. It took a while for Vermilion to recover from the blow, but he used the star icon to support himself as he jumped up, anger burning in his eyes.

"Shut the fuck up, Vermilion, nobody cares what you think," Grollo spat, not even bothering to face Vermilion.

Rustus chuckled and Smurfus sighed. "Could we move on?" the Ultramarine said with exasperated voice.

"Yes, Grollo, Vermilion, please calm down. We should be getting ready to leave already," Maroos agreed as Vermilion stalked back to his side like a beaten dog, eyes still burning.

"So, do we have a leader for this journey? Dunstan asked. Not that he would recognise anyone's authority, but it was good to know what the others thought.

"The Dark Apostle leads, of course," Vermilion declared instantly.

"Smurfus should lead," Flavius countered right away, turning to Vermilion as is daring for the Bearer to challenge that claims.

"I agree, Smurfus should lead," Rustus growled.

"I agree as well," Smurfus said with a pompous smile.

"And fuck you will," Grollo growled. "We should just fight and whoever is left standing has the lead. Honor duels until a clear victor emerges."

"Why not death duels just as well?" Flavius said eagerly as he lifted his worn junk of a sword. "Anyone who wants to lead will take on the challengers and the one left standing say who will lead the others."

"I am supporting this idea!" Grollo informed others.

"We don't have many of us left if we do death duels," Maroos put in.

"I agree," Dunstan said, feeling the thirst for fight in the air affecting himself as well. "We should hold honor duels to decide if the leadership is decided by honor or death duels."

"Wouldn't it be best if nobody died before we actually get to Mars?" Maroos tried.

"Or how about we have death duels about whether we should have honor or death duel," Rustus rasped.

"There is something in that idea," Flavius said thoughtfully.

"How about we come up with extensive theoreticals that will lead to solid-"

"Your theoreticals are shit!" Dunstan cut Smurfus off before the guy got the train rolling.

"No, the Dark Apostle was the one to receive the vision and come up with this holy endeavor, he should decide if it is honor or death duels!" Vermilion declared.

"Shut up, nobody care about you!" Flavius roared as he pulled forth his sword at struck at Vermilion, sending the stricken Legionnaire reeling from the blow.

Dunstan pulled his sword from his belt into readiness, as did the rest of the Legionnaires with their weapons. The situation did not look good. Hopefully the mission would be still on the table even if/after some of them laid dead.

"My lord?" came an old feminine voice, and Dunstan turned to look. Siena was standing in the doorways, the slave's wrinkled face frowning as he watched Rustus maul Grollo with his weapon, getting plenty of axe in return. Vermilion was trying to impale Smurfus with his icon, while Flavius looked like he was soon losing it, the bloodlust already visible in his eyes.

"Yes, what is it!?" Dunstan baked as he parried a wide strike from Flavius meant for someone else.

"We are rather busy at the moment!" Smurfus yelled over the fight, headbashing Vermilion away.

The Legionnaires separated from each other, squeezing their weapons and eyeing their cousins sharply. It had been a short but violent clash, the caused by surges of anger rather than any real useful reason. Their Aura had protected them from the moment when the violent impulses kicked in, and now that the first flash of initial emotion had passed, what was left of their rational part of mind was trying to reel the battle instincts back under the will of the mind. All of them saw there was no real benefit in any of this escalating, and were trying to make themselves care enough to stop. Sometime these kinds of bouts ended before the Legionnaires got too excited and were caught in the heat of the moment, and sometimes again only spilling of blood brought the end with it.

Dunstan eyed his cousins, trying to determine if any of them was going to let their impulses run wild or not. He also felt the same temptation burn inside him, some possibly Warp touched part of himself in his head telling him how great it would have been to see Grollo lying dead in his feet or to prove his superiority over Flavius in a death duel. The temptation was prickling from his toes to this fingertips squeezing his sword, but he reeled it in, leashing it with his iron will.

 _Not today._

"You shut refrain from fighting in the dinerium, this is a place for eating," Siena said calmly at the Legionnaires who were glaring daggers at her or each other.

"Shut up, slave, we do what we want!" Flavius barked.

"Very well, my lords," Siena said with a short nod, no change of emotion on her calm face. "I came here to tell you that the Grimm have found their way into the catacombs, my lords. They are currently ravaging the training halls of the east wings sublevels, trying to break deeper in."

"XENOS TO SLAY!" Grollo roared from the top of his lungs, the feral grin on his face beaming with a resurge of excitement. He ran out of the door, followed by most of the others, all of the previous fight forgotten. Dunstan was of course right behind them.

"Blood for the Blood God!" Flavius bellowed as he pushed past others.

"We will slay them for the God!"

"Shut up, Vermilion!"

Maroos was the only one not rushing out, staying behind with a suffering look. "I can't believe this…" Dunstan heard him sigh to Siena. "We can't get pretty much anything done and can't get to agreement in pretty much anything, but when the Grimm show up, we gather all our living kin together in five seconds for the purpose of murdering them…"

* * *

"Are we sure we packed enough food?" Grollo asked after they finally managed to leave the catacombs of the palace proper. The tunnels which the fellowship of Legionnaires was traveling trough were narrow and often required going back after encounters of collapsed ways, but they were much better than traveling on the surface of the ruined city. Dunstan had seen enough of the surface and had enough encounters there to know that it was not usually worth it.

"Siena practically forced all that fish jerky into our bags, I think we will be fine even if we ran into unexpected delays on the way or on the way back," Smurfus grunted as he squirmed past particularly narrow crack between two large boulders. Rustus whom was coming after him simply smashed one of the boulders aside.

"And we can always eat Vermilion if we run out of grub," Flavius said.

"Over my dead body!" Vermilion snarled before realizing what he had just said. "Wait…"

"Can be arranged!" Grollo let out from the front of the group.

They traveled first upwards the tunnels, then downwards, and finally upwards again. They traveled for several kilometers, sometimes taking almost an hour to travel a distance of few damned tens of meters in the maze that was left from the complete lack of maintenance for decades.

They encountered Grimm here and there, mostly Creeps that were stalking the tunnel networks. There was never large concentrations of them and they were cut down without much effort by the professional genecrafted mass murderers.

The journey was slow and frustrating, and it took many hours in the dark before they saw light of the day again. The ancient maintenance hatch was stuck shut, so Rustus had beat it open, and the buckling metal finally gave out to reveal the fresh air of the day.

The Legionnaires scurried out of the hatch into the ruined edges of Terra, devoid of the largest destroyed buildings of the city's center, and more importantly devoid of endless swarms of Xenos. They emerged from a foot of a medium sized spire that was like a skeletal remain of a once great show of architecture, ravaged by time. A faint orange tint could be seen reflected on the parts of exposed metal structure of the spire, causing Dunstan to realized it was already a late noon.

"I just realized I have not see the sun in over a year," Maroos said as he squinted, using his hand to cover his golden eyes from some of the sunlight.

Dunstan looked towards the horizon in the north where the city completely ended, the far away steppes lined by spots of green and the even further away looming forests and finally mountains. He could not have seen Mars even if he had climbed on top of the ruined spire, so far away the ancient technological center of the dead Imperium was. And they would have to go there. On foot.

"At times like these, I really hope we would have acquired more bicycles than just the ones used for traveling between here and Laguna," Smurfus complained as he gazed into the distances where the earth and the orange-blue sky met.

"How long do you think it will take?" Dunstan asked from Maroos who had architected this whole mission. Dunstan had of course knowledge about the long ago crusades to Mars, but he doubted they had done so on foot… Actually, they most likely had done it on foot, it was not like they had any Rhinos or Land Raiders around anymore.

"Definitely over a week," Maroos replied as he took a sip from a water bottle he had pulled from his bag. "With the blessing of the Gods, we will be back in two. Depends on so many things like the weather and how big the monsters on our way are. It's a long perilous road."

"And we have to come back the same way while carrying the loot..." Grollo grumbled. "Wait… who is carrying our stuff on the way back?"

All of the Legionnaires looked at each other as the gears started turning in their heads. "VERMILION!" several of them, including Dunstan, yelled while pointing at the red shirted form what was quickly trying to disappear into the ruins of the spire.

After a while, after they had dug the little bastard of the XVIIth from the ruins, the Legionnaires formed a loose line, and started running. Their Aura enhanced muscles kicked up a massive pile of dust from the dry earth as they adopted a speed that only soul wielding humans could hope to maintain, and soon the ruins of the once mightiest Kingdom on the planet fell behind them as they vanished into the wasteland.

* * *

Nox entered the gunship, closing the landing ramp behind him as he creeped into the cockpit of his aircraft. It had waited just where he had left it on the outskirts of Laguna, while he had taken a bicycle from there on (Those things were damn hard to pedal with his legs though), for he was not stupid enough to fly it to Terra, where the airspace was full of Nevermores, Griffons and Gargoyles, and on the ground were even more dangerous things: other Legionnaires.

Nox sat down on the pilot seat, his hands coming up to power up the ship's controls, the colorful view screens coming to life with information about the craft. Nox still did not understand all of them, but he understood enough to fly the thing, and that was enough.

The fuel gauge was one thing that he focused on. Based on how much the machine had used on the way from Vale, Nox could see he had enough Dust in the tanks for a return journey, but after that the ship was in a need of refueling. Nox did not know what kind of Dust the ship run on, but he would have to find out and acquire some if he wanted the gunship to remain operational.

And he did want it to remain operational. It was an actual aircraft, not even just one of those clumsy Bullheads, but an actual military vehicle created for war. It was heavily armed and extremely nimble, as well as quite nice to look at. Nox really liked it. He had never realized how bad he wanted an airship of his own until got one. He would put it to good use when he and Sangur finally got out of Beacon.

With manipulation of the controls, Nox ignited the engines and the thrusters of the ship. The craft came to life with nice loud hum, and after some final checks, Nox grasped handles of the control wheel to lift his ship into the air. The metal machine rose from the meadow as the plant matter was washed with the airlift of the thrusters, quickly gaining altitude and speed. Nox steered the fuselage to point towards West and quickly left the shore of Laguna and Sol behind. The aircraft glided far above the shimmering waters of the great ocean, carrying him towards the Kingdom and the Huntsman school.

After fixing the direction and speed, Nox consulted the many blinking panels of the cockpit, engaged the autopilot and let go of the steering wheel stick. The craft continued its flight in a straight line without his constant guidance, allowing him to relax on his seat a bit. Nox looked out of the main viewport for a moment before looking down and taking something out of his pocket.

The small device was old and worn, of course it was. Nox had taken it in secrecy from the Neophyte chambers of his Legion, where it had been hidden among all the junk piled in the corners. Nox had been there on the day it had been dumped there, and now he had used the opportunity to dig it out from its forgottenness.

It was a plain gray recorder, an old imperial model that had been found and scavenged from the ruins. It was not particularly advanced nor valuable, a cheap machine used by the civilian population on the days when Terra still had population. There was pict capture lense that was partially cracked, and a foldable screen for inspecting the recorded data. Nox flipped it open and pressed the button that turned the little machine on.

There was a picture of an Imperial Aquila alongside some meaningless text on the screen before a simple menu came into view, and Nox proceeded to select the recorded data section. There was only a single, very short video file in there, and Nox moved to select it and pressed play.

The picture was horrible, the crack of the lense distorting third of the picture, and the darkness of the recorded scene as well as the obvious lack of skill on the part of the user did not help. There was just blurry movement, shapes moving as well as the shaking of the camera itself as it had captured the events. The audio however was better.

 _"_ _-They come,"_ came slightly static snarl, the voice of Otieno.

 _"_ _-There are only few of them,"_ came a reply from Shyama. _"-Another half a minute and they are right where we want them, completely at our mercy."_

 _"_ _-Not that we have any of that for them,"_ came a crackling chuckle of Rajnish. _"Our knives will work their flesh sooooon…."_

 _"_ _-What are you doing with that?"_ Nox heard his own voice, and the blurry screen was filled with a shape looking at the recording machine that Nox knew was himself, even if it could not be made out of the video. _"-Put that thing away, we kill soon._ _We will fight till their wills are broken._ _"_

 _"_ _-Blood for the Blood God!"_ Sangur's roar could be heard in the distance and suddenly there was a lot of movement.

 _"_ _-Oh shit, he is charging already! Our cover is gone, engage engage!"_ came the blurt from Otieno that faded into static as the video file ended.

Nox stared at the screen without expression, blinked, and then pressed replay.

 _"_ _-They come."_ Otieno had been the clever one, the one who often laid out what they would do and how they would survive the situation at hand. Honorless, ruthless git. They all listened to him. He was the semblance of leadership they needed, even if he was horribly annoying at times.

 _"_ _-There are only few of them. Another half a minute and they are right where we want them, completely at our mercy."_ Shyama was the silent one, the one that spoke only when there was something to say and little else. He was a hell of a fighter, and the one who was the first in and last out of everything. He had no sense of humor and was as interesting as a cold brick, but he sure knew how to kill, which was a valuable character trait.

 _"_ _-Not that we have any of that for them. Our knives will work their flesh sooooon…."_ Rajnish... He had never been as sane as the rest of them, not even right after the implantation. He enjoyed torturing in inventive ways, and he often whispered to himself and the shadows around him. They had all thought he was tainted, more than the rest at least, but none of them ever said anything.

 _"_ _-What are you doing with that? Put that thing away, we kill soon._ _We will fight till their wills are broken._ _"_

 _"_ _-Blood for the Blood God!"_

 _"_ _-Oh shit, he is charging already! Our cover is gone, engage engage!"_

The video ended, and Nox pressed replay again, not separating his black eyes from the small screen.

 _"_ _-They come."_

 _"_ _-There are only few of them. Another half a minute and they are right where we want them, completely at our mercy."_

 _"_ _-Not that we have any of that for them. Our knives will work their flesh sooooon…."_

 _"_ _-What are you doing with that? Put that thing away, we kill soon._ _We will fight till their wills are broken._ _"_

 _"_ _-Blood for the Blood God!"_

 _"_ _-Oh shit, he is charging already! Our cover is gone, engage engage!"_

They were talking to him through the small machine box, long dead, their words echoing from beyond death. Nox pressed replay again as the gunship steadily took him towards the central Kingdom.

 _"_ _-They come."_

 _"_ _-There are only few of them. Another half a minute and they are right where we want them, completely at our mercy."_

 _"_ _-Not that we have any of that for them. Our knives will work their flesh sooooon…."_

 _"_ _-What are you doing with that? Put that thing away, we kill soon._ _We will fight till their wills are broken._ _"_

 _"_ _-Blood for the Blood God!"_

 _"_ _-Oh shit, he is charging already! Our cover is gone, engage engage!"_

 _..._

 _"_ _-They come."_

 _"_ _-There are only few of them. Another half a minute and they are right where we want them, completely at our mercy."_

 _"_ _-Not that we have any of that for them. Our knives will work their flesh sooooon…."_

 _"_ _-What are you doing with that? Put that thing away, we kill soon._ _We will fight till their wills are broken._ _"_

 _"_ _-Blood for the Blood God!"_

 _"_ _-Oh shit, he is charging already! Our cover is gone, engage engage!"_

 _..._

 _"_ _-There are only few of them. Another half a minute and they are right where we want them, completely at our mercy."_

 _"_ _-Not that we have any of that for them. Our knives will work their flesh sooooon…."_

 _"_ _-What are you doing with that? Put that thing away, we kill soon._ _We will fight till their wills are broken._ _"_

 _"_ _-Blood for the Blood God!"_

 _"_ _-Oh shit, he is charging already! Our cover is gone, engage engage!"_

...

 _"_ _-They come..."_

* * *

 **Mars awaits.**

 **Grollo Bloodaxe of the Vith Legion and Rustus Pestilitas of the XIVth Legion. Time to update the DeviantArt picture again.**

 **Leave a review, if you feel it in your heart, and have a nice day.**


	38. Chapter 37

**It has been a while, has it not? I have just had so much in my mind that my motivation has been kinda low. And I will probably have a lot in my mind for a while longer, so the next chapter might take a while. I am not exactly busy, just feeling a bit stressed.**

 **Here, have a joke to make up for the long update time, past and upcoming:**

Why did Orchid cross the road? Somebody mentioned drugs in that general direction.

Why did Sangur cross the road? To kick Orchid's ass for being a pansy whimp.

Why did Azuhrius cross the road? No one knows, and there are contracting evidence of the occurrence of the whole event.

Why did Nox cross the rode? It looked safe enough now that the others were over.

* * *

 **Chaos is the Prize Chapter 37**

 ** _"Personally, I would say the 'master' of this whole thing is fate... Whoever is on the playing field is fair game, and it's up to them to avoid being used."_**

 **-Cliff Burton**

"And where the hell have you been?" Azuhrius asked when Nox emerged from the door of their dorm room, walking in as if he had not been missing for several days. He had even thought Nox had finally snapped, and was currently terrorizing Vale and scaring the ever living shit out of every small child in the Kingdom. Sangur had stayed around, but only thing he had said was that Nox would be away for a while without knowing why.

Azuhrius had tried his best to cover up the fact that Nox was not in the school, telling anyone who happened to ask that Nox was sick. Fortunately Nox had come back before anyone started investigating his whereabouts more intently.

"Nowhere really," Nox said as he almost crawled towards his bad. He looked really tired, but that was to be expected since the weekend was upon them. Nox seemed ready fall into his usual couple of days coma any moment now, and when he reached his bed, he jumped upon it and stopped moving.

Azuhrius sighed. He would try to find out where Nox had been leter. "Did you at least remember to do something about your scroll?" he asked. "Ozpin could come knocking if you forgot about that tracking device."

"Yeah yeah, I remembered. I left it to Sangur and he's been carrying it around. The old bastard is not going to suspect anything." Nox groaned before he yawned with wide mouth. The fact that he was taking the risk of sleeping in the dorm room showed just how tired he was, for he had not done that ever before. "I am going to… I am going to sleep now…" Came a very tired voice from the face covered pillow. "Sangur… keep watch… Don't let them… don't let them... kill me in my sleep. Those bastards... Don't let them…" It only took about ten seconds for the silent steady breathing of sleeping to begin.

Sangur did not do anything, simply remained where he was sitting on his own bed. He shot Nox a small look before he moved his eyes to stare blankly at nothing, his face twitching as some nerves spasmed.

Azuhrius looked at the sleeping form of Nox before he got back into his own school work. He was the only one in that room that ever did their assignments. Their loss. "Sangur," Azuhrius said as he turned his eyes to the last living son of the Lord of the Red Sand.

"What?" Sangur grunted, not returning Azuhrius' gaze.

"There is a battle coming," Azuhrius spoke the magic works that instantly captured Sangur's attention. The red eyed Legionnaire turned to face Azuhrius with rare curiosity.

"I am listening."

"The Legions of Terra are planning to assault a certain stronghold of Atlas in the near future. Even now some of our cousins at Terra are securing vital assets. It is going to be a great conflict, something that no Legionnaire has see in decades."

"And you want me and Nox to join you?" Sangur guessed. His intuition was right, as it usually was when battles were concerned. "You have been requesting our help for those little errand before, and now you are asking us to help you with something even bigger?"

"Precisely," Azuhrius nodded with a small smile. "Our numbers are few, and the enemy is formidable. We should use every advantage and ally available to use."

"Is it actual war?" Sangur asked with glint in red eyes.

"Yes, Sangur, we are talking about actual war. And I want you to take part in it. What do you say."

Sangur stared dreamily at Azuhrius for a quick moment, before turning to look at the sleeping form of Nox that was wheezing silently. "I will have to talk to Nox…" he grunted. Not like Azuhrius had expected him to sign right in without consulting Nox. "I will talk to him, see what he thinks. A proper war would be great... the War God demands war… " The glanced at Azuhrius again. "Nox is not coming…" Sangur said almost sadly. The look in his eyes told he would have liked nothing more than to join this planned battle. "I will ask him, but he will not want to get involved, I know it. And I am not going without him. He hates Terra and those residing in there. And he does not want to go against formidable enemies, he does not wish for war where the risk are high."

Azuhrius nodded. "Old trait of his Legion bloodline. Night Lords don't fight when they don't have the advantage on their side," he retorted. He would of course try to hire Nox for this mission, be he was not actually expecting to have any success with it. This was not going to be some small skirmish on the edge of Vale with little risk. No amount of homemade pancakes would move him. This would be war, and in war people died. And there was little else Nox hatted more than dying.

"I will talk to him, but don't expect too much," Sangur said.

"It is worth a shot. His expertise would be a great help," Azuhrius said, glancing at Nox and then back to the berzerker of the XIIth Legion. "You know, you are much easier to talk to than him."

"Nox always said I was the people person," Sangur shrugged without a hint of a smile on his serious face, maybe not seeing anything wrong Nox's words.

It was at that moment that Orchid slammed the door open, rushing into the room. "YOU WOULD NOT BELIEVE THE KIND OF BLISS YOU GET FROM MIXING THUNDER DUST, SOME RANDOM FUCKING SHROOMS, THOSE BLUE PILLS FROM THE MEDICAL CLOSET AND POWDERED SLOTH MARROW!" he screamed, his wide pupiled eyes bloodshot and tears streaming.

"SHUT THE FUCK UP WHIMP, NOX IS SLEEPING. YOU ARE TOO LOUD!" Sangur roared almost as loud, his heavy bass voice a stark contrast to Orchid's shrieking.

"I AM TOO LOUD!? I AM TOO LOUD!" Orphic screamed. " _I AM NOT LOUD ENOUGH_!"

It was at that moment that Azuhrius noticed Nox's eyes open wide. A terrible visage of rage formed on his pale face, caused by the the disturbance of his rest that he probably found highly irritating. Azuhrius tried to move further away, but Nox was up and raging before he could get out of the blast zone.

"YOU… YOU MONSTERS!"

* * *

Ozpin looked very thoughtful as he rose from his seat, grabbing his cane and walking in few calm circles behind his desk, his eyes looking out of the grand windows of his clock tower.

Ruby remained seated where she was, observing the headmaster and how he reacted to all those things Ruby had just told her. It seemed the information had made Ozpin think about something really hard, based on the long silence Ruby had to endure.

"Thank you for sharing this with me, miss Rose," Ozpin said finally, turning his spectacle framed eyes towards her. His face was unreadable to Ruby, displaying no hint of what was in his mind. "I will pass this information to the authorities, and General Ironwood. He was wondering what had happened to one of his gunships. I am sure they will have more questions for you later, but for now you can be at ease. You have made your way back and alerted us of the incident, you have done well. It is good that you got back to Vale safely."

Ruby smiled faintly to the headmaster. She was sure Ozpin would take care of everything, find out what happened. "Professor…" Ruby began with slightly hesitant tone. "Do you... think that this incident has anything to do with Torchwick and the White Fang?"

Ozpin shook his head slightly "Possibly. I don't know yet. We will have to investigate. But it is no longer in your hands, so don't worry about it." Ozpin sat down to his elaborate seat again. "Go back to your team, I am sure they have been very worried about you while you were gone."

Ruby nodded. "Yes. Thank you professor." She turned around and headed for the door of the elevator.

"No, thank _you,_ Ruby." Ozpin said behind her as she got into the elevator. The doors closed, and Ruby was taken down from the grand clock tower.

Whole way back to the dorms she was thinking about all the things that had happened to her and her team, how there clearly was something going on. She felt like she was now understanding how Blake had felt when Torchwick had been on the loose with the White Fang. Uncle Crow clearly knew something, Ruby had deducted that from the few messages she had received from him, but just like Ozpin, he refused to tell Ruby anything. She just wanted to help, how was she suppose to do that if she did not know what was going on.

Ruby suddenly came to a halt in the middle of the corridor when a extremely loud uproar echoed from somewhere, probably from one of the dorm rooms. Before she could take another step, a door on her left was thrown open, and flying flailing Azuhrius flew out, impacting the opposite side of the corridor with a loud *SPLAT*.

Ruby opened her mouth in bewilderment. Azuhrius had not even managed to fall to the floor before the limb form of Orchid followed after, impacting his teammate, and lastly the large frame of Sangur was thrown out of the door, finishing the clump as he crushed his teammates against the opposing door.

"I. HAVE. NO. TEAM!" came a loud roar from the dorm room before the door was violently pulled closed.

Ruby looked at the scene before him. The sprawled Team ASON members on the floor who looked like they were not quite sure what just happened. Azuhrius was still pinned between his teammates and the side of the corridor, his arms flailing as he tried to squirm free. Orchid looked quite stunned, his wide eyes shooting around wildly while he laid under Sangur's heavy breastplate.

"I was there…" Sangur muttered from top of the pile where he was lying on his back, head falling over upside down. "I was there the day Nox finally snapped…"

* * *

The terrain was different from the wasteland that surrounded Terra. Here the soil showed clear signs of pollution, and the air had a chemical tint that had not dissipated in all the years since the fall of the Imperium. There was no plant life, much less fauna, of any kind within kilometres of the place that had once been the greatest bastion of technology on Remnant.

Dunstan scanned the horizon. There was a black line far away from the hill he was standing on, dotted by some shining reflections of gleaming metal. It seemed so small from where he was watching, the distance hiding the monstrous scale of Mars. No spires were standing any longer, the very surface of the place simply ruins of stone and rusted metal.

The sky was turning dark and the some of the last remaining rays of setting sun were coloring half the heaven with vivid colors of orange and yellow. They would camp out on the hill tonight and make the final part of the journey tomorrow. Dunstan turned around from the view across the wasteland and returned to the small camp site they had worked into being.

Only Rustus was there at the moment, sitting on the ground next to a small fireplace made out of wood that had had to be dragged from kilometres away, for there was not anything bigger than a dead twig near Mars. The others were scouting the perimeter, hunting any nearby Grimm or praying to the Gods of the Warp.

Dunstan sat down in front of the fire which seemed all the brighter by the moment in the dying daylight turning slowly into night. He grabbed one the the logs piled near the fireplace and tossed into the crackling flames to be consumed.

"I will take the first watch," Rustus grunted with his sickeningly rasping voice.

"And fuck you will," Dunstan grunted. Offering to take the first watch was not a sacrifice of any kind. It was the best watch one could take, for after staying up a little longer you could sleep till dawn. "I will take the first watch."

"And everyone else is going to say the same thing..." Rustus grumbled. "Just like every night till now. And then we will have honor duels and You and Flavius will beat the others up and see who gets it this time"

"As I said, I will take the first watch," Dunstan said confidently as he brought his black sword to rest in his lap.

For a long moment the two Legionnaires just watched at the dancing of the flames and the dying of other light. Sometimes they heard gunshots when Smurfus' machine gun found some prey within its effective range. The weapon of the Ultramarine had both melee and ranged forms, but he used the ranged form most of the time. He was not the type to get his own hands dirty needlessly. He was a man who had others do his bidding as he commanded from the distance.

Dunstan glanced at Rustus. The Death Guard Legionnaire was one of those people Smurfus used to do his dirty work. "Why do you follow Smurfus?" Dunstan asked the question that suddenly came to him. He was kinda curious what had made the large pile of rust throw his lot in with Smurfus and Flavius.

The expressionless gasmask did not reveal anything, nor did it even turn to look at Dunstan. "Smurfus is a man with a vision," Rustsu finally grunted. "A man with actual talent for leadership. Such men usually get things done. If there is something the Legions need, it is to get things done." There was disgusting coughing coming behind the mask.

"You and I both know he is not as good of a leader as he thinks," Dunstan replied as he looked at the flames again. There was a series of metallic clicks as his helmet collapsed around his face to reveal his face.

"No, but he is better than you give him credit for," Rustus said, his voice not cleared by the coughing at all. "Any leader if better than no leader at all. He will get things done, and be an important figure in reaching a new age for the Legions. He might consume himself doing that, or he might not. When the new age comes, there will be plenty of room for others to rise, but for now he is an useful man to me. Better to rise with him as long as he rises, as long as there is benefit in following him."

"I see," Dunstan mused, throwing another log into the fire. "And if Azuhrius or someone else kills him, what are you going to do then?"

"Someone else?" Rustus grunted rhetorically, the gasmask glancing at Dunstan who just shrugged his one sidedly armored shoulders. "Then I will find someone else, but for now I put my money on Smurfus."

"I would reconsider and my money in Azuhrius if I was you and picking allies," Dunstan said. Not that he thought Azuhrius was anymore worthy of being followed, but in power struggle between him and Smurfus, Dunstan expected Azuhrius to emerge victorious and alive.

"I guess we will see," Rustus coughed.

* * *

"Lord Shrike," Cerin called out as he carefully knocked on the door decorated by a stylized raven's head clumsily carved into the stone. There were countless empty chambers all around the imperial palace, so any Legionnaire could just take his pick for his own. They were not really that different from one another since they were all underground so it was not like there were any windows with great views or garden balconies. Just dark rooms that the Legionaries decorated in a way that pleased them with whatever they could get their hands on.

"Come in, Neophyte," Came a crackle of a voice behind the door, silent but still audible. Cerin obeyed, gripping the handle of the door and pulling it open carefully. The door was heavy, fit for a tomb, and Cerin did not believe he would have been able to open it without help from his slowly developing Aura granted by his Geneseed.

It was dark inside. The room was pitch black with no source of light, and as silent as a grave. Cerin's eyes saw perfectly in the dark, but even he could not pick out Kierana in the lightless chamber, despite the fact that it was not a large space and there was nowhere to hide. To Cerin, it seemed like there was darkness there, and nothing more.

And then Shrike suddenly emerged from the darkness. It was as if the armored form of the winged Legionnaire simply materialized out of the shadow, slipping forth from emptiness like a ghost. There was nothing there, and in the next moment the tall warrior was standing in front of Cerin, looming over him like an avian monster from a nightmare.

Cerin took couple of steps back before bowing before the champion.

"Rise, Neophyte," Kierana said with a nonchalant rasp. Cerin stood, lifting his eyes to look up into the black beady eyes of the peaked mask that observed him. "What is it that you want from me, little sons of the night?" Kierana asked as he turned, replacing his eyes from Cerin and looking at the wall on his left, descending to crouch, his wigs folding over him like a dark mantle. Cerin glanced at the wall, seeing nothing of interest there, but the older Legionnaire stared curiously at it like there was something there only he could see. He did not look at Cerin again.

"I have a request, lord," Carin said with a voice he was trying to maintain as neutral. "I… I have been thinking a lot… since my brother came back."

"Yes, Nox…" Kierana whispered. "Nox… He is an interesting Legionnaire. What have you been thinking, young one?"

Cerin hesitated for a moment before speaking. "Beacon…"

"The huntsman academy?" Kierana asked with some surprise in his voice. "Oh yeeees, Nox is there now, isn't he? With Azuhrius and Orchid…" Kierana scratched the floor with the sharp point of his armored gauntlet. "Was… Was Sangur there as well?" He asked uncertainly, as if he had trouble remembering.

"Yes lord, to my understanding Sangur is there as well," Cerin replied.

"Four…" Kierana mused. "Four Legionnaires... in an huntsman school of a Kingdom… Such a strange situation… don't you think as well"

"Indeed, lord." Cerin said, though he was so young he though he did not quite understands everything to do with the Kingdoms or any of these huntsmen academies. Cerin also did not understand why Nox was staying in Beacon, he could not imagine any sensible reason.

"Azuhrius… Azuhrius has always been such a crafty little snake… Master of unconventional… as expected fof his bloodline…" Kierana flicked his wings. "Only he could come up with something like infiltrating Beacon… only he sees some gain and opportunity in it. And he is the only one of us who could actually make it work…"

Cerin was silent, not sure what to say about this particular subject. He knew particularly nothing about Azuhrius. It was not wise to get involved with the vipers of the XXth with anything else than sharp objects of considerable lethality.

"When he left for Vale, I wondered where he even got such an idea from. I wondered what could make him think anything could come out of something like entering a huntsman school."

Kierana was still not looking at Cerin, only at the dark wall. "I heard it from Sythonax first, you know. I learned it afterwards from Ceruleon as well, even if he was a bit uncooperative at first. Ceruleon has some attention from the beings of the Warp, and he was granted a visions, visions that he believes will offer him a glimpse from the future. He has seen many of those visions to my understanding, truly something is watching from the Empyrean, watching… watching at the little snake. I have seen the signs..."

Cerin held his tongue. Visions of the Warp were the bane of sanity and a path to ruin. He did not dare to say it to Kierana though, for he was not sure how the dark champion of the XIXth would react, so he remained silent.

"I… I don't have it in me to believe in things like that," Kierana continued. "I am sure you have heard the word going around? How people like Maroos and Smurfus talk about a coming of a new age… I don't have a heart to believe in it…"

Kierana looked so very old and tired at the moment, his great age showing in his dark frame very clearly. "I have seen and heard things like that before. I heard it when I was what you are now, before I became what you will become, and I have heard it ever since from many mouths. I have heard… heard it many times, and I have lost interest. I don't really care anymore. Maybe Maroos is right, maybe this time something will change. Maybe such talks will die with him soon. And then there will be someone else in the future, days, months or years from now. But I don't bother with things like that anymore. Future brings what future brings, and the Gods don't reveal it as easily as we mortals might hope. I will wait and see if that future holds anything at all… Till then, I will keep watch here, looking over the carrion of our Empire."

Now Kierana finally looked Cerin. "I will stay here... Waiting. Watching. Looking after you young bloods… you new warriors of the Legions... for you are a bunch of deceiving, hot blooded killers, and need someone watch after you…"

Kierana fell silent, maybe finally realizing that he had rambled quite far from the original reason Cerin was her for. "Beacon?" he said uncertainly, as if digging the word from somewhere deep inside his cracked psyche. "Beacon… what did you want with Beacon?"

Cerin looked at the crouching black raven in the mask covered eyes. "I wish to go there," he said. "To where my brother is."

* * *

 **Leave a review if you feel it in your heart, and have a nice day.**


	39. Chapter 38

**You can thank TheMightyMorgoth for giving me some motivation so I could get this chapter out today. I am feeling better and the next chapter may or may not take as long to come out as this one did.** **This chapter should have all kind of interested things for you guys.**

* * *

 **Chaos is the Prize Chapter 38**

 ** _"God is dead. God remains dead. And we have killed him. Yet his shadow still looms. How shall we comfort ourselves, the murderers of all murderers? What was holiest and mightiest of all that the world has yet owned has bled to death under our knives; who will wipe this blood off us? What water is there for us to clean ourselves?"_**

 ** _-Friedrich Nietzsche_**

Standing on the edge of the metallic surface platform, Dunstan gazed down into the depths that were cowered by darkness long before he could see any semblance of a bottom. The main factorium complex of Mars, the largest visible section from above ground, was a hole of a monstrous scale in the surface of Remnant. Most of Mars was underground, vast forges and work centers carved into the depths of the the bedrock in an age long past. It was an seemingly endless fall, circled by hundreds of platform levels bristling with ancient machinery, like a maelstrom made of metal in the crust of the world.

Around the gaping maw of iron were ruined remains of above ground structures, fallen spires and collapsed domes, none left intact in the years after the Great Heresy. Just mountains of ruined metal and stone half covered by the reddish sand blown by the lifeless wind, sometimes creating eerie howls as the winds penetrated the destroyed structures.

Dunstan looked down into the abyss, just as the abyss looked back at him, beckoning him into darkness filled with dangers and monsters. And he would descend downwards, dwell into the depths of this once great city of knowledge and technology turned into haunted mausoleum of metal from where few returned.

"How far down are we going?" Dunstan inquired as he leaned back from the ledge, turning to the rest of the Venatore pack who were also taking in the sights.

"What we have come for should be near the surface, where the repair and resupplying of airships once took place. I would say maybe on the third level, but we might have to go further, we must be prepared to go as deep as it takes. We go for the nearest shipyard and move on from there until we find what we are looking for."

Yes, Dunstan though. Until they found this " _one particular, little, almost insignificant, technological achievement of our old Empire_ ," as Maroos put it. Dunstan did not want to be the one who had to drag it up to the surface.

"Just the most surface levels," Flavius grunted. "Far above anything valuable. We will be lucky if we find anything more advanced or valuable than a jukebox on those floors."

"At least there are few Grimm or rogue machines on the top levels," Rustus said with a hoarse voice. "And hey, if we find a fucking mars crafted jukebox, I am taking that thing with me back to Terra."

"Whatever," Smurfus mutered. "How do we get down there? Do we just jump?"

Maroos looked around thoughtfully. "Jumping, even to the topmost floors, would be a rather one way trip. We should look for a maintenance hatch, cargo elevator, or pretty much any entrance that is still open and works as an exit way as well. There have to be quite a lot of them here somewhere, even if some may be broken or collapsed."

"Or we just make our own entrance," Rustus rumbled dismissively. "I am more worried about the things down there wanting to kill us than how we get in."

"I doubt there are many enemies on the top floors, we will probably not see a Grimm in a while," Grollo snarled with a disappointed tone, tempting the Architect of Fate.

* * *

And the Architect of Fate may or may not have listened.

"Right side, incoming!" Smurfus called out as he stopped firing down one side of the platform to target a new pact of Creeps that just emerged from the darkness beyond the massive machine lifters and support beams filling the platform on the edge of the abyss.

Dunstan was already almost knee deep in rapidly disintegrating monsters and had no room to spare any attention to the new threat as he was busy cleaving apart the black beast trying to kill him. Around him other Venatores were mercilessly butchering the soulless creatures, showing them their error of attacking the Legions of Terra.

They had literally stumbled upon the Creeps as soon as they crashed through a half collapsed control station staircase, and the monsters had obeyed their first instinct upon seeing prey: attack.

But it was them in fact who were the prey. The Creeps were dying in drows like a cattle being butchered. They had no coordination, they were one of the weaker Grimm biomorphs, and while the open space of the ancient airship hangar offered them the chance to push their number against Venatores, it also provided clear lines of fire.

Smurfus was killing then by the dozen in seconds, simply mowing them down with his light machine gun in a hail of screaming bullets. Vermilion was snapping energy bolts from his junk of a pistol, but Dunstan was not wasting his precious ammunition on lowly vermin like this. These Grimm were not a threat despite their numbers, and so his blade did the work.

Grollo and Flavius were carving huge swathes into the coming enemies swarm, eagerly meeting the Xenos while bellowing their warcries.

The whole affair was over as suddenly as it started, and the dirty metal floor was filled with smoking wrecks of Grimm bodies. Dunstan flicked his sword clean of the last vaporising trails of blood and lowered his blade, scanning the area. He listened if their entrance had woken any more attention, but the mechanical megastructure was silent as a grave around him.

"Well that was a welcoming party. What now?" Vermilion asked after he finished his battle prayers to the Gods.

"Well the upper floors are clearly not as empty as we first thought," Smurfus said as he scanned the dark corners, reloading the large magazine of his gun fast and expertly. "We have to be cautious."

"How about we send screaming Grollo to go run around this level while roaring madly. That should drag most of the Grimm to him while we others get some working room," Dunstan suggested.

"Nah, I don't think I would manage to attract all the Xenos on this level to come after me," Grollo replied thoughtfully. "A lot of running and probably little results."

Dunstan raised an eyebrow inside his black metal helmet. "That is the only reason?"

"It was a decent idea, even if coming from you," Grollo shrugged.

"Well this level is pretty much empty of anything but maintenance bays and shuttle docks," Maroos mused as he leaned over to glance over the ledge of the platform onto the next level below. "I think we have to go down a floor, probably two before we find any good storage facilities that might contain our objective."

"No sense sitting around then, let us go," Smurfus said as he started looking around a way to further down.

It took almost ten minutes before the Venatores found an old elevator shaft that would serve their purpose. It was not functional like everything else in there, but it had maintenance ladders along is fall that allowed the Legionnaires to descent two floors before they had to cut open the jammed doors to access the level itself.

Dunstan exited the saft and looked around into the darkness. The space was much more cramped than the upper hangar levels, and much more filled with machinery and support structure. The opening to the giant hole could still be seen on the distance where the floor opened to its center, offering some minor illumination. Multiple corridors were leading in all directions, all of them empty and dark.

Dunstan grabbed a flashlight (an illumination device, not Vermilion's pistol) and shone light into the blackness. His cone of light happened upon a Martian symbol of the Machine God, a half metallic skull haloed by a large cog. He walked a few steps closer, observing the symbol of the now long dead cult. A Machine God… a divinity worshipped by servants of an empire that denied all religion and belief in divine. Such hypocrisy…

"Maybe we should split up," Smurfus said as he peered into the opposite corridor than Dunstan. "We will cover more ground and get done faster. If anyone finds anything they can just go get the others, the floor stucture should be simple enough."

"Fine by me," Grollo grunted.

"What if we run into Xenos?" Maroos asked.

"The we will take care of them," Flavius murmured with bloodthirst.

"It would be wiser to move together where wa can take them on together," Maroos continued.

"Everyone should be able to take care of themselves," Flavius grunted back. "I take no responsibility for the weakness of others."

"Let's just split into groups," Smurfus said. "Me, Flavius and Rustus will take the east corridor."

"And me and Vermilion will take the west one," Maroos informed. "We will probably meet up at some point when we have done the full circle."

"What about us?" Grollo asked with disgruntled voice, nodding at Dunstan. "I am not going anywhere with this bastard."

"Kinda what I was going to say," Dunstan replied as he shot a Grollo a dark look. "I will go with Maroos and Vermilion. Grollo can go get himself lost here for all I care."

"Sound good enough, I am on my own then," Grollo said without further words, turning to face one of the smaller corridors. Dunstan was quite sure the Wolf would be searching for something to kill rather than the actual objective of this whole mission. Hopefully he would not be returning alive.

"Okay, it is settled then." Smurfus said, turning to his own corridor with Flavius and Rustus.

"...Do you guys hear that," Vermilion asked suddenly, causing all the others to glance at him and stopping to listen in silence.

There were voices echoing along the corridors. Foul animalistic Grimm voices that every Venatore recognised. Voices that did not forbode anything good.

"Are those what I think they are..." Rustus spat. Everyone looked a bit more cautious, even Flavius and Grollo.

Dunstan nodded. "I think so." He was suddenly feeling like splitting up was not the best course of action, but he doubted anyone would want to change the plans. At least they would be getting out of here faster.

"Don't worry, I have heard that in Mars they are weaker than in Terra. They are sluggish and sudden movements confuse them," Smurfus said, looking at Grollo as he said those words. Maybe he did not want the Wolf to change his mind and tag along with his group.

His words may have had some reassuring effect on Grollo, for the Legionnaire lifted his axe with confidence, all worry gone from his feral face in an instant. "Is see them, I kill them," was all he said before he turned on his feels to face his corridor again, delving into the darkness without even lighting his flashlight, relying only to his Fenrisian senses.

Dunstan waited until Grollo's armored back vanished from sight before glancing at Smurfus. "Sluggish? Sudden movements confuse them?" he asked.

Smurfus only shrugged. "Thankfully he is very fearless and very very stupid." He motioned with his hand towards this corridor and his group moved in, entering the dark tunnel.

Dunstan turned to Maroos and Vermilion, and the three of them wordlessly started making their way along the west corridor, the faint voices of distant Xenos echoing along the metal walls all around them.

* * *

"What is that smell?" Teale asked as she entered her dorm room. There was a sweet and seducing smell hanging in the air, as if somebody had just finished cooking something delicious. She looked around and found the rest of team TACO sitting in the middle of the room by a short improvised table made from piled school equipment and a large wooden shield of unknown origin.

Kiara turned to look at her teammate, motioning Teale to come closer to the table. Her mouth was stuffed with something probably delicious so she was not able to speak anything.

"I made pancakes," Aureolin said happily as he pointed at a large plate supporting a huge pillar of golden colored treats. "Come, have a bite and tell me what you think. Oliver said they are okay, but he think s90% of everything ever is just okay."

Kiara finally managed to chew down and swallow. "These are really damn good Teale, take some before they are gone." Kiara smiled at Aureolin. "You are a great cook, I had no idea! You are going to make a really good husband in the future!"

Aureolin flared bright red, and proceeded to stuff his own as well as Kiara's mouth with more pancake.

"Pancakes?!" Teale said with alert as he reached the table. "Don't you know how dangerous that is?!"

"What exactly is dangerous about eating pancakes?" Oliver asked with a raised brow.

"You don't get it?" Teale said as she spun around and pointed at the door. "At any moment, that door could open, and a member of ASON comes for the pancakes and to visit ruin and misery upon us!"

They all stared at a door for a long time, expecting it to dramatically open to allow in a scheming member of ASON. The moment stretched, and after a long and silent pause without anything happening, they all turned their attention back to the table.

"Sit down Teale and have some," Aureolin said.

At that moment the door suddenly flew open, and a pale face with black eyes leaned in ominously, followed by a cold creepy voice. "Did somebody say _pancakes_?"

* * *

"Is it just me, or did the priests of Mars decided it was their number one priority to lock this place up really fucking tightly before they died, so nobody could come and steal their precious loot with any resemblance of ease?" Vermilion growled as he struggled to open another of the tightly shut storage doors. He was having considerable difficulties with it, much more then the two dozen doors before this one. He pulled with all his Aura enhanced strength, but the door did not give in at all.

"Fuck!" Vermilion snapped as he gave up and stepped back. "It is as if this thing is welded shut!"

Dunstan took a closer look. "You know, I think it actually is…" he said after a while of examining the door.

Vermilion looked at him, and then back at the door. "... Oh my Gods… I fucking hate this place…" He kicked at the door in a fit of anger. The coordinated act however failed to have any notable opening effect to the door. "Why would the gear brains even weld their door shut!"

"Maybe they were trying keep the Xenos out," Maroos suggested, pointing at deep claw marks in the nearby wall. "Well, at least this room should be unlooted, it probably has not been opened since the fall of Mars."

"Lets hope there is something of worth inside," Dunstan remarked as he shoved Vermilion aside, raised his sword and aimed it at the door. All of the previous storage rooms they had went through had been either empty, full of useless junk, or in couple of cases housed a very cranky creature of Grimm, so some progress would be nice for a change. He rammed the black blade through the metal plating, making a hole into the middle of the door with relative ease. Dunstan started to move the blade, cutting the door apart with loud groans of suffering metal and some small scatter of sparks. The welding gave in and Dunstan kicked broken the door open.

All three of them rushed in, eager to get a first chance at anything valuable inside. Vermilion leaned out, grabbed the first thing within reach and lifted it up to the light with a grand gesture. "I found a _pipe_!" he declared loudly. He looked at the piece of metal for a second before tossing it over his shoulder.

Here were many containers piled along the walls of the rather spacious chamber, as well as discarded junk laying around forgotten. It was almost immediately evident that their objective was not here, but there could be other valuable things. Huddled against the containers were couple of strange piles that Dunstan discovered were cloaked withered remains of some long dead tech adepts, possibly the ones who had sealed the door shut in the first place. He paid them no mind and moved towards the containers in one of the corners.

Vermilion had already opened one of of the containers on the opposite side of the space. "I have no idea what these bits of metal are," Dunstan heard him wonder sourly. That probably meant they could not be weaponized, and were therefore meaningless. Maybe they were spare parts to some unknown machinery. He opened a box to check for himself in any case, for he had absolutely no faith in Vermilion's judgement about anything.

Dunstan looked at the things within the containers and like Vermilion he had no idea what they were. It looked like they might have been engine components of some larger vehicle, so the Venatores had no use for them. The next box also had metal components, different than the other ones, but still seemingly worthless.

The three of them went around the chamber, looking into at least one third of the boxes. There were containers of different size and shapes, so that gave at least some hope that there might be something useful among the junk, but they had little luck with their findings.

"We should move on, it is clear our objective is not in here." Maroos said after a while of fruitless searching. "This scrap is worthless."

"One last box," Vermilion groaned as he struggled to yank open one particularly large container. The container was putting up a good fight to retain its sanctity, and no clear victor between the man and the box was evident for now.

Dunstan tossed aside one last lid of a container and he found it contained nothing but more engine parts. He almost turned away in resignation, when something caught his eye from behind the container. There was even smaller box between the wall and the larger container, but this one was clearly distinct in its appearance. It was an easily portable pack with dull gray surface and faded text stamped on the lid. It had a distinct military feel to it.

Dunstan moved himself a bit so that he was standing in a way where his body blocked the view for Vermilion and Maroos. He reached out and grabbed the pack, carefully lifting it from beyond the large container. He glanced over his shoulder to make sure neither of the Legionnaires of the XVIIth were looking at him before he opened the pack.

Inside there were slots for objects of a bit bigger than Dunstans mailed fist, and most of them were empty. But only most of them, Dunstan noticed as his eyes widened slightly. The three slots along the right edge of the pack were occupied by small clip shaped metal objects that Dunstan recognised almost immediately. They were Dust power cells. Volkite weaponry power cells.

Dunstan moved swiftly, grabbing the power cells and they quickly disappeared into his belt pouches under his semi-robe. He would have use for them. He tossed the empty ammo box into a dark corner where it could not be easily detected. Then he turned, glancing to make sure neither of the other Venatores had seen anything.

Vermilion had finally defeated the large container after a long and hard fought battle, and he was finally able to open it. It turned out there were many pipes of considerable length inside.

Vermilion cursed in Colchisian. "There is only junk here, let us be on our way."

"Yes, nothing but trash in here," Dunstan said as he walked out of the treasure chamber after the Word Bearers.

It was at that moment the corridor started echoing with sudden animalistic cries, much louder than before, the foul noises traveling along the easily sound conducting metal corridors from somewhere far ahead or perhaps behind, it was hard to tell.

All of the three Venatores raised their weapons and scanned their surroundings, seeking any signs of hostility. They shone light in all directions, but the corridor around them was completely empty, yet the based on what Dunstan heard, the source of those voices could not be far. He also started distinguishing metallic clashed among the bestial roars, which were clear sounds of battle.

"I have a feeling Grollo might have run into some Xenos…" Dunstan said with emotionless voice. There was no gunshots so it could not be Smurfus' team either. After listening for a while longer, he determined the voices were coming from behind them along the corridor. It was actually rather easy, since the voices were seeming to come closer and clearer.

"I think they might be coming this way." Maroos observed as the violent sounds drew nearer. "We should join up and Smurfus' group."

"And leave Grollo to die on his own to the damned Xenos?" Dunstan asked, just as he turned around and started running with the two Word Bearers away from the sounds. "Yeah, lets do that."

It took a long while of running, but since it was a single corridor going all the way around the giant hole of Mars, it was only a question of time before they found the others. Smurfus, Flavius and Rustus were holding a large junction when Dunstan and the Word Bearers reached them. They had their weapons drawn, but there was no signs of them having recently engaged enemies. They were in a good defensive formation, each of them watching a different direction.

"They are coming for us." Maroos said as he pulled to a halt next to Smurfus and assumed a role in the formation. "A lot of them based of the sounds. We think they got Grollo."

"That's what you get for playing a lone wolf." Rustus grunted.

Dunstan looked around him. This position was not good, there were multiple junctures where the Xenos could attack. He did not want to get surrounded. "We should move, this is a bad position. Lets go somewhere where we can guide them to a single front of attack."

"No, they will reach melee anyway, and we need need the room to strike them down effectively. And additionally… We found it…" Smurfus said, which caused Dunstan and Maroos to look at him. Smurfus nodded at one of the doors that was half open in one of the nearby walls. "I am pretty sure that is what we have in there. If it is functional, our mission is half completed."

"Well that did not take long," Vermilion scoffed. "We barely had to go trough a fraction of a single floor. I am feeling like finding the damn thing was the easiest part of this mission."

"Now we only have to come out of here alive." Dunstan muttered as he turned his flashlight towards a corridor, trying to detect any signs of an enemy. The sound were coming closer, ever closer.

What came out of the darkness at first was not a creature of Grimm however. Grollo came rushing out of the corridor, alive and well, and looking really fucking pissed. He was slightly covered in black muck, his axe especially, that indicated he had been in battle extremely recently. Dunstan could not say he was happy to see the Wolf, he would have prefered that the Xenos and Warp take him.

Grollo reached them, went straight for Smurfus and roared from to top of his lung into the Ultramarine's face. "THEY ARE WEAKER HERE?! SLUGGISH AND SUDDEN MOVEMENTS CONFUSE THEM!?"

The sound told Dunstan the xenos were almost upon them. He could hear the wicked scraping of a hundred razor sharp claws against the metal floor, could hear the foul cries of the inhuman beasts. He turned his lumen device to max and dropped it to his feet where it continued to provide light as he readied his sword and aimed his wrist bolt weapon.

"Our goal is right here," Maroos said, motioning with his crozius. "We only have to repel the Xenos and take it with us to the surface. We have the powers of the Warp on our side. This is where we make our stand and prove our worth to the Legions. Give the beast no quarter! They are the ones who die this day! Come, abominations, COME AND FACE THE ONE TRUE MIGHT IN THIS WORLD!"

"Nothing crushes the might of the Word! The chosen of the Gods will overcome, AND _WE_ ARE THOSE CHOSEN!" Vermilion cried out, brandishing his icon.

"Blood for the Blood God!" Flavius roared into the dark corridors, beckoning the coming foe with wild moves of his dark sword.

"Death to the Xenos scum…" Rustus rasped as he clenched his maul. "Deaths for the lord of Death…"

"May our might and the powers of Warp see us through this!" Smurfus said with a steely voice. "Courage and Honor!"

"In the name of Russ… death to the filth," Grollo groaned as he spat on the ground. "COME MEET YOUR DEATHS, XENOS!"

"For Lion, and his Legion!" Dunstan exclaimed, adding his own to the litany of warcries. _May the Gods help me through this,_ he prayed silently to himself, just in case the Gods were feeling like letting the warrior showing the least amount of devotion die today.

"DEATH!" Maroos yelled.

"DEATH!" Most of them replied.

"DEATH! TO THE FALSE EMPEROR!" Maroos howled, echoing the ancient cry, the only cry that had any semblance of unity in it, the only cry that all of them could join in. The Warp became just a fraction closer to the material world around them, otherworldly power coiling invisibly in the air, showing favour to the words and those who spoke them.

" _ **DEATH TO THE FALSE EMPEROR**_ **!** " They all screamed together in defiance as the first Xenos emerged from the darkness. " _ **AND ALL HIS SLAVES**_ **!"**

The corridor was lit up by weapon fire as Smurfus opened up with his light machine gun, spraying a lethal volley of death into the coming Xenos. The swarm of one of the most dangerous Grimm biomorphs simply hurled themselves into the fire, rushing forward with no fear and no respite. The chitinous four armed monsters died in droves, the bullets cutting them down like a scythe through weeds, yet they kept on coming. No matter how many died, they always kept on coming.

Dunstan emptied the clip of his wrist bolter into the coming tide of talons and snapping maws. The rounds all hit true, for it was impossible to miss in the tight corridor, and each mass reactive exploded inside a Grimm beast in a varying showers of gore. When the weapon clipped empty, dunstan adjusted to grab his Unforgiven with two hands, lifting the black blade above his head.

The first Xenos that reached him died the second it did so, Dunstan's uppercut cleaving its head clean half from the middle. He did not have a second to spare, as immediately he had to bring his weapon back up to guard himself for the next enemy that leaped at him.

For a split second, Dunstan's helmeted face was face to face with the Genestealer, and he looked into the burning red eyes staring at him from the bone masked face. The mouth filled with dozens needle teeth snapped furiously shut few centimeters from him, kept at bay only by the the sword that was pressed against the monster to keep it out of reach. Dunstan blinked, adjusted his footing, and wrenched Unforgiven to the side, cutting brutally the Grimm apart with just his brute strength. The spasming Genestealer fell to the floor, and it was trampled underfoot in the battle before it realized it was dead. He simply moved on to the next one of its foul kin.

Dunstan did not know how long he killed. Sense of time was pushed back to make room for pure battle instinct and calculated but hot battle zeal. The Genestealers came from him, and he cut them all down. A slash from Unforgiven decapitated one of them. A brutal punch from his mailed gauntlet broke open the head of another. One he kicked out of the way, and it died messily as it found itself on the way of Flavius' bloodrage. The battle became one huge maelstrom of struggle and murder. The Xenos died by the dozens, maybe hundreds, it was impossible to keep track in the poorly lit, claustrophobic chaos of the ancient Martian corridor.

The Xenos howled. The Venatores howled. Aura was spent like ammunition on full auto. Razor talons clawed at the Legionnaires. Evaporating blood was everywhere. Smurfus' machine guns sang its slayer song at times, the bullets ricocheting loudly from the metal walls. The storm of violence raged on relentlessly and without pause, seemingly stretching on forever.

And then it was over.

Dunstan found himself knee deep in smoking Xenos corpses suddenly devoid of living targets to slay. He looked around himself with some exhaustion, and would have let out a sigh of relief or a cry of victory if he was not panting too hard. The Genestealers were dead. And all of the Venatores still lived.

Flavius still did not seem to realize it was over and was madly lashing at the air and the dead corpses smoking around, roaring with still pulsing fury. Smurfus sat down on a pile of carcasses, proceeding to reload his weapon with calm hands. Vermilion planted his icon proudly on top the fallen foes, reciting some prayers for the glory of the Gods.

"Damn, you lived…" Rustus grunted to the Word Bearer without any trace of exhaustion in his disgusting voice.

Grollo roared with ragged breath "That all you got?!" into the empty corridor, before he collapsed and fell backwards into the disintegrating pile of dead meat he had created.

It took a moment for Dunstan to locate Maroos, but he finally spotted the Legionnaire as Maroos entered through the open door previously indicated by Smurfus. He followed after, the other Venatores not far behind him.

The chamber was a storage, vary similar to the ones they had seen before, even if somewhat larger to accommodate all the things inside.

"There! I am taking this back to Terra," Rustus exclaimed.

Inside that storage chamber, they found the damn jukebox, as well as the objective of their mission, that one particular, little, almost insignificant, technological achievement of their old Empire.

* * *

"Is that the smell of pancakes again?" Teale asked cautiously after entering her dorm room, lowering his voice when he mentioned the name of the food.

"Yes." Aureaolin said. "I made some more since the last batch suffered such a tragic fate. I got help from Ren here for these, should be really tasty."

Ren nodded where he was looking upon Aureolin's cooking with mentor gaze. "Only the dead have seen the end of pancake war. We who have seen pancake war never stop seeing it," he said grimly.

"But isn't it dangerous to eat these here," Teale said, hoping too much of the smell had not drifted out when she had opened the door. "We should eat them quickly, before certain someone from ASON barges through that door again!" Teale motioned at the door.

They all looked at the door intensely for a long while, the atmosphere thick with tension.

It was at that moment Nox crashed into the room through the window, screaming from the top of his lugs. " _I HAVE COME FOR YOUR PANCAKES!"_

* * *

 **That was Mars.** **Hopefully it was to you liking. And now with vital part of their huge operation secured, the Vanatores are now ready to either go big or go Warp.**

 **Leave a review, if you feel it in your heart, and have a nice day.**


	40. Chapter 39

**This time we have a bit shorter chapter after all these longer chapters of late. That is because it is a rather unique chapter, I want to try something.**

* * *

 **Chaos is the Prize chapter 39**

 ** _You spilled an ocean of blood. You showed no mercy, no pity. We too are children of this age... weaned on strife and chaos. We are your sons, yet you count on our fidelity. In my eyes, that makes you a fool. A senile old fool!_**

 **— _Saburo Naotora Ichimonji_**

"Vermilion, is it clear what your job is on the way back?" Smurfus asked.

"Yes," Vermilion replied with a sour face. "What _is_ unclear to me is what everybody else is doing…"

The Legionnaires came to quick mutual understanding who would be responsible of dragging the objective of the Mars mission all the way back to Terra. They decided upon Vermilion with the votes 6 out 7, and Rustus took care of carrying the jukebox. With different responsibilities assigned, the Legionnaires started they long journey back to Terra. It was considerably slower paced because Vermilion was a lazy bastard who would not stop complaining.

Dunstan pulled out a map as he walked through the wasteland surrounding Mars. Since the main party would be going slower anyway, he got a sudden idea, brought to him by a a strange notion now that he was actually here. He looked at the old worn map, and his gaze found small dot not too far from the path between Mars and Terra. "Laeran" was scribbled under as the name of the place, a handwritten addition by someone. He could take a detour by running. It was not like he had anything else to do since the way back was proving to be such a slow endeavour.

"I will leave you for a while. I want to to go somewhere," Dunstan declared, still looking at the map. He was not asking for permission, simply letting the others know that he would be going.

"And where are you going?" Maroos asked as he glanced over his shoulder.

"Nowhere far, I am just going to pay a visit to Laeran. It will not take long, I will catch up to you easily," Dunstan said, folding the map into one of his belt pouches.

"You are going to Laeran? Why?" Maroos asked curiously.

"I just want to," Dunstan shrugged, not bothering to explain further. Nobody else seemed to care about his plans.

"I am coming with you," came surprising declaration from Flavius.

Dunstan looked at the Fist with some surprise. "Do as you wish," he said after a moment. It did not really matter if he had company or not, and he did not bother asking why did Flavius want to come as well. He had a decent guess, Flavius probably had the same reason as him. Or he just wanted to wander out to kill something. "Well, let us be on our way then," Dunstan said as he started running away from the slow moving main pack, Favius not too far behind him

* * *

He looked down at the mirror sheen of the lake and found a face of 7 year old boy looking up to him with bright eyes. He looked past his own reflection, trying to see any movement created by the fish in the lake, but he could not see any sign of them. He leaned backwards from the lake and pulled forth the hook of his hand made fishing rod. He took a fat worm from a can next to him, attached it into the hook, and then he flailed his rod forward to send the hook into the calm water of the lake.

He really liked fishing, it was one of his favorite things to do. He was not good at it, most of the times he came here to fish he caught nothing, but he was determined to get better. He was always very exitted when he caught even the smallest of fish. One day he hoped to catch something that would actually be big enough for eating.

He sat legs crossed by the bank of the lake, calmly holding out his rod to allow the fishing line to swim in the water that was reflecting the bright light of the summer sun. On his left he had a small back that contained some food and water, and next to the bag was a small figure crafted from wood.

His much older brother, who worked as a carpenter in Laeran, had made the figure for him. It was in a shape of an armored huntsman with a sword in one hand and a pistol in another, striking a pose like the huntsman was in a middle of a fight. He loved the figure more than anything, and it was his most prized posession. It made him feel safe.

Two years ago he had survived a Grimm attack that took the life of his father. He had actually seen the beast tear his father apart with his own eyes, and only the timely intervention of another man from Laeran had saved him from being killed as well. He had been so young, and his father was the only parent he had. His mother had died long time ago without him ever knowing her. And seeing his father die so brutally had left its trace in him, a huge trauma that still haunted him.

He was afraid of the black monsters that scoured the wilderness, he was afraid of them like nothing else. He never ventured further than this lake from Laeran, for he was scared he would meet monsters like that as soon as he traveled further. Sometimes he was still afraid even when inside the village, expecting glowing red eyes in every shadow.

The was what the huntsman sculpture was for. His brother had given it to him to make him feel safer, and even though it was just a piece of wood, it actually put him at ease. Carrying around a figure of those mighty warriors that fought the monsters made him less afraid. He would never leave outside their house without it, and when he lost it he usually panicked until he found it again. It was the most valuable thing he had, and he did not know how to go out without it.

He pulled the fishing rod when he felt a tug and the hook was swiftly lifted from the water. There was no fish he noticed with disappointment. The worm was gone, some careful fish had managed to nib it away without getting caught by the hook. He let out an annoyed groan as he moved to retrieve another worm from his can. He glanced up after attaching it to the hook, noticing that the sun was starting to move beyond the horizon. The first orange slivers of sky could be seen in the east. It would be time to head back to Laeran soon, he did not want be outside when the sun fell.

* * *

Dunstan and Flavius stood on top of a hill, observing the small shape of a settlement bathed in the yellow light of the setting sun. It was still far away, but the two of them would make the rest of the journey in a moment. They would reach Laeran in less than an hour.

"I expected there to be more Grimm around here…" Flavius noted as he looked around from the hilltop. "We ran into nothing all the way here."

"You expected the village to pull them to it?" Dunstan asked.

"I thought it was a possibility. It is not like there is anything else of interest within kilometres."

Dunstan nodded and continued looking into the distance. There were really few human settlements in Sol, barely any other than the Atleasian ones in the very north of the continent. Laguna was the only one within any reasonable distance from Terra. Any other settlements that came into being too close were eventually raided by the Legions.

"Lets go," Dunstan just said as he started to move again, and they continued their running towards Laeran.

* * *

He entered through the gates of Laeran, passing under the large intrigue wooden arch that decorated one of the entrances of the village. He had his fishing rod in one hand and his bag in the other. He had not managed to catch any fish, but it did not matter to him. He would do better in the future.

He could see villagers here and there around him. Some were finishing their businesses for the day, some were enjoying resting after day's work or heading to have a drink with their friends. Some early lights were lit to bring illumination into the slowly darkening evening.

It did not take long before he saw his own house, close to the middle of the village. It was kinda large for the only two people who lived there, and he and his brother had much room to spare. Big brother was starting to use the insides of his house to store woodwork that he crafted in his workshop. It was starting to get kinda messy in their place. The old lady next door often said that his brother should get married already to get someone up hold order in the house, for brother was clearly not doing well with it himself.

He reached the front door, which was decorated by a masterfully crafted woodwork depicting a head of a lion that looked at the visitors with unflinching gaze. Big brother often said that it kept the Grimm at bay, for the foul beast were afraid of lions, as they should be. He turned the doorknob to allow himself in.

There was a good odor of something being cooked coming from the kitchen, some kind of soup if his nose did not deceive him. He stored his fishing rod by the door, threw off his bag and headed for the kitchen, only taking with himself the wooden figure of the armored huntsman.

His brother was there, reading a book while a pot was calmly boiling on the kettle. He looked up from the book and smiled at his little brother. "Did you manage to catch any fish to be added into our meal?" he asked with light tone.

He had to glance away from his big brother for a second. "No, but I will catch tomorrow for sure!" he declared as he sat done by the table that had more seats than it needed nowadays.

Both of them sat silently as they waited for the food to be ready. His brother continued reading his book as he waited patiently, gazing out of the window at the orange sky.

Big brother did not talk very much these days. He was always there if his little brother needed to talk about anything, but he very rarely was the one to start the conversation. He had never been very talkative, preferring to occupy his mind with his carpentering or books rather than with other people. He had only grown more silent when father died.

Just when big brother rose from his seat and went for the kettle, there was a loud voice from outside. It was a bang that that echoed for a while before vanishing, almost like a sound of thunder. A gunshot.

Big Brother forgot the boiling pot on the kettle instantly and glanced out the window. Both of them listened carefully, and there was a sound of commotion from outside. Another gunshot rang out not too long after the first, and now there was a high pitched scream to accompany it.

He grabbed the huntsman figure for refuge with both hands, looking up to big brother by the window with fear in his eyes. "What is it?"

Big brother turned to him with tensed expression. "Hide in the closet, hurry!" he said as he pointed into the corner of the room by the fridge.

There was a large closet that he often hid in since it was large enough to hold a small child, and very comfy inside. It was mostly empty because he liked hiding inside so much.

"Hurry!" Big brother said as he ran to the other side of the room, going where the rifle of the house was kept. He grabbed the gun, checked it quickly and glanced at his younger sibling again. "Hide in there, and no matter what don't come out until I come back for you!" With those words, big brother hurried out of the kitchen and soon the sound of an opening and then closing door could be heard.

He did as his brother had told him. He went to the closed, opened and crawled inside. He did not close the door properly, leaving him with a tiny sliver of light from the outside. He wrapped his hands around his feet and curled into a ball against the wall of the closet.

He was afraid. He was so afraid. Had the monsters come to do to him, his brother and other villagers what they had done to his father? He was shaking from dread, and the sounds of yells and gunshots from outside did not help him. He wanted his brother to come back, so that the Grimm would not take him as well. He did not want to be alone.

He clenched the huntsman figure for comfort with his hands and started sobbing a little.

Only a small while passed before he heard sounds from the door again, and someone moving in the house. He heard his brother's voice, a voice that was shaking and cursing. He heard his brother call out to him, heard him coming for the closet.

* * *

Dunstan walked through the village of Larean, his weapons resting by his sides but ready to be used. Nothing emerged to challenge his way forwards, and nothing here could have stopped him even if it had tried.

Flavius was nowhere to be seen, he was after blood in some other part of the village, chasing for the remnants of the little resistance they had faced when entering the village. He made his way past the buildings, his helmeted face scanning for any movement. All was motionless before him, and so he continued forward.

There was a house on his path, and he was making his way towards it with solent purpose. He leaned forwards with his gauntlet, pushing the half opened door decorated by a wooden lion head open and stepping inside.

There was someone else other than big brother in the house. He could hear the sounds coming from the door, sounds that definitely did not belong to big brother who was in the front of the closet door, blocking the door with his body. Big brother was whispering him to stay quiet, to stay hidden.

Then he could hear the heavy steps of someone else entering the kitchen. Someone was there in their house, and was coming closer to the corner where the the closet stood. There was more steps from the door, sounding like at least one more person entered the house. It did not sound like Grimm.

Then there was wild jerk that shook the closet, and suddenly the door opened just a bit when big brother's weight disappeared against it. He leaned his head, aligning his eyes with the small crack of light he was able to see from the room.

Brother was held in the air by the front of his clothing, hanging from strong arm of an armored shaped with his feet not touching the floor. There was another figure standing behind the armored one, but he could not see either of them very well from the the limited view offered by the door of the closet.

Big brother was whimpering, he could hear the frail voices that big brother made as he was held in the air. Then there was another voice, cold as ice, and the words it spoke send shivers down his spine.

"Too old…" said the voice.

There was a sickening crunch from outside of the closet, and then a sound of something heavy hitting the floor. He could no longer see big brother nor any of the two other figures through the slightly open door. He was so afraid, and sobbing uncontrollably. He wanted to call out for big brother, wanted to know what had happened. He leaned out and pushed the door open just a bit more.

"Do you hear that?"

The door was suddenly wrenched from its hinges, and so the view to the kitchen was fully revealed. Big brother was laying in the other corner of the room, motionless in a pool of red liquid. Two tall figures were standing in front of the closet, looming in front of him.

One clad in yellow armor plates reached out for him. "Now this one is more of the implantation age."

"Take him."

His hand was grasped by the large man's iron fist, and he was roughly pulled out from the closet. The huntsman figure made by his brother fell from his hands into the bottom of the closet, and he let out a scream, flailing uselessly against the unrelenting grip that took him away.

* * *

Dunstan walked into the kitchen of the old house. It was in disrepair and dirty, cobwebs decorating the dark room. It had not seen human use in a long time, and the dust and signs of animal touch were everywhere. There was a filthy skeleton in one of the corner, long since scoured clean by vermin. The windows were broken, and the stained splinters of glass were crunching under his feet. He looked around, doing nothing more than calmly looking around him. Minutes passed as he took in the ruined house.

He could hear some howls of the Grimm from outside, as well as the sound of Flavius putting them to sword.

Then his eyes fell on a closet in the corner. With slow steps, he walked to it, and loomed over the broken door, looking into the closet. He kneeled down, reached out with his hand and grabbed a small object from the near the ground.

It was a figure crafted from wood with great skill into a form of a posing warrior in armor, wielding a sword and a gun. It was depicting someone who no beast could kill, someone who was trained to fight the Grimm and slay the foul monsters. Dunstan held it in his hand, staring at it through the vision slit in of his black helm, taking in every detail of the tiny toy.

Then he rose to his feet again, leaving the insignificant wooden figure behind. He did not need it anymore. He was not afraid of the Grimm anymore.

* * *

 **I hope you see what I did here and no one is confused by this chapter. I hope you liked this SPARTAN.**

 **Leave a review if you feel it in your heart and have a nice day.**


	41. Chapter 40

**Here we are, 40th chapter of Chaos is the Prize (the Omake does not count), about two years after I started this story. I know the first chapter was published in November, but I actually started writing during the summer. And Gods of the Warp, I still have so much work left to do.**

 **Oh yeah, we have couple of new Neophytes making their appearance this time around. Hope you like them.**

* * *

 ** _Chaos is the Prize Chapter 40_**

 ** _Fear_** ** _and greed are potent motivators. When both of these forces push in the same direction, virtually no human being can resist._**

 ** _-Andrew Weil_**

After a long journey, seeing the ruins of Terra felt surprisingly good. It was a reminder of their fall and failures, but it was also a place of safety in a sense. Bellow the surface was a sanctum for Dunstan and his kin where Grimm nor other Kingdoms could get to him, where he could bide his time and rebuild his Legion, where he would one day emerge to the outside world to claim what was lost.

The Venatores were descending into the underground corridors on the edge of the ruined city, dragging the prize of their mission down under with them. Dunstan watched as they did so, watched as his cousins retreated back to the depths, into hiding from the sun and the outside world.

Flavius stood next to Dunstan as both of them were gazing at the small entry into the catacombs Vermilion was currently busy dragging the machine through. "I don't want to go back into the dark again." Flavius grumbled as he glanced upwards at the sky. It made Dunstan remember how Maroos had said the Word Bearer had not seen the sun in over a year. Dunstan had not been above ground much more often.

"It won't be long anymore. We will have to tolerate these catacombs only a bit longer," Dunstan said as he started walking after the other Legionnaires. "The day we steal back our place in the sun is not too distant."

The way back to the palace took much longer than on the away journey. The cumbersome objective of the mission could not be dragged through the most cramped pathways, so they had to find new ones. They decided to use Smurfus's masterful sense of direction, and therefore ended up lost six times before Maroos took up the job of navigating. _He_ got lost only two times, so it was a massive success.

After nearly a week of wandering half aimlessly in the catacombs and the sewer systems of Terra, fighting Grimm where encountered, the Legionnaires finally happened upon the underground sections of the Imperial Palace. This was good because they had ran out of food two days ago, and they were having trouble since if they would eat Vermilion, who would carry the loot?

"Sweet sweet palace!" Vermilion groaned from where he was face downwards on the floor as they sealed the entry way behind them. "I have never been so happy to be here. I am starving! Slaves! Somebody! Bring me food!"

"I have some right here, my lord." Siena said as she handed out some fish jerky to the hungry Legionnaires.

"I am going to go find out how to get this jukebox working…" rasped Rustus, the only member of the group who showed no signs of exhaustion or hunger. Dunstan assumed the the blessings of the Plague God would have probably kept the Death Guard alive even if he had to go a year without sustenance.

Grollo devoured his meal with animalistic and extremely messy brutality that Dunstan would not have thought possible. _It must be hard being that fucking savage._

"Slave! Call… Call those guys... from IVth and Xth here!" Smurfus managed to say as he was stuffing his face with fish jerky. "We need to get this machine into working condition as soon as possible."

"As you wish, my lord," Siena replied with a bow, handing out more food. "By the way my lords… does any of you happen to know where lord Shrike has gone?"

* * *

"So as you can see, we have here an ancient piece of machinery we just retrieved from Mars thanks to my great efforts. And we need you two to work it into usable condition." Smurfus said with his loud, stupid voice. "This is your chance to prove yourselves to the Legions! In your hands rest the future of us all! Do not let us down!"

"WE WILL NOT FAIL IN OUR DUTY, YOU CAN COUNT ON US!" Ferro yelled as he saluted Smurfus with his fist.

"That's what I like to hear!" Smurfus answered with a stupid smile. "Maroos is working on getting us some touch of the Warp to help getting this thing operational, so consult him when you need it."

"ASSISTANCE FROM THE FOUL NETHER WON'T BE NECESSARY! OUR SKILLS WILL SUFFICE!"

Chromos almost wanted to facepalm. "We are eight…" he grumbled to stupid Smurfus.

"No, you are from fourth and tenth Legions." Smurfus replied stupidly.

"No, I am saying we are both eight years old, for fucking iron's sake," Chromos said bitterly. "I am eight, and you want me to fix this decades old piece of warp fuckery technology while assisted by an inhuman spirit of the immaterium that may or may not just fuck things up to see what happens? Basically, fuck you…"

"WE WILL GET IT DONE, OR DYING TRYING!" Ferro screamed.

Chromos glanced at the other Neophyte. "Do you always communicate only by means of shouting?"

"YES! WE OF THE IRON TENTH ARE GREAT WARRIORS, AND GREAT WARRIORS ALWAYS SPEAK VERY VERY LOUDLY!"

Chromos face palmed, thingking that Ferro might have been better fitted with the freaks of the IIIrd Legion. _Fuck this iron… Fuck these lunatics… fuck my life..._

Smufus looked at them with stupid looking eyes. "Now shut up and and get it to work Or I will find someone who will…"

"There is no one else. That is exactly the reason you are giving this job to fuckign eight year olds…"

"Just get to work, Neophyte! And be careful, that things blows up and we are all going to go see the Gods much sooner than any of us would like."

Ferro jumped on to the large machine without hesitation, starting to open it up to get into the machinery.

Chromos watched it with a sour expression, glancing up to Smurfus again. "What makes you think we have any chance of getting this thing into any way useful condition..."

Now it was the stupid Smurfus who made a stupid looking face palm. "Chromos, for the last time, you are from IVth, _you-can-machines._ Got it?"

"That is some sick stereotyping you are doing there."

"Just get to work already for Gods' sake!"

Chromos groaned but went to the machine, leaned down to next to a open panel showing numerous angry red lights. He frowned and reached out and adjusted a single switch, causing all of the lights to instantly turn to healthy green. He stared at the lights indicating the functioning of some part of the machine for a moment, before snarling with resignation. "Gods dammit…"

* * *

"What are you reading?" Came a strange voice from somewhere above her that still did not manage to make Blake take her yellow yes off the pages of the book. She was in a really good part, and therefore she barely acknowledged the question, simply replying with the title of the book and hoping there would be no further questions incoming.

Blake had especially fled to the most secluded part of the school yard for the specific purpose that nobody would bother her as she finished the book's final chapters. It was seriously so good, the twists had been unexpected yet so satisfying, and she could feel to build up going towards some big revelation and climax, causing her to turn page after page in anticipation. The author had outdone themselves. She would have to remember to leave a long review into the scrollnet to show that she appreciated the author's brilliance and dedication.

"You look like you are really enjoying that book," The voice said, coming from high up the tree Blake was sitting under. There was something very strange and unique about the voice, but right then and right there, Blake could honestly not give a flying fuck what was going on around her.

"Yes. I am reading, so could you please be quiet." Blake almost hissed, turning the page with gleaming eyes.

"Then I shall leave you to it shortly. I am looking for members of... Team ASON, I believe they are called? Would you be able to point me in the right direction? I have been searching around for quite some time now and am having no results."

"Well if they are not in their dorm room during this time of the day, they are probably scattered somewhere around the school." Blake replied, fishing her scroll out with her free hand, her yes still locked onto the book in her lap. "Wait just a moment, I will call someone who might know at least one of their location," She said, impatient to get this stranger out of her hair so she could dedicate her life and soul to reading.

Blake picked a number, and it did not take long for it to connect. She glanced quickly up at the stranger in the tree above her before she started talking. "Hey Teale, where are you? Okay, listen, could you tell Azuhrius if you know where he is that some dark winged guy is looking for him and his Team. I am sending him to you so help him to find them. Kthxbye."

Blake shut her scroll and dropped it unceremoniously next to her on the grass, raising her hand to point towards one large building. "That right there is the library, Teale is there, she is a girl with short teal hair, she is the person most up to date what is going on with Azuhrius, she has his scroll number, she will help you find him, I am reading now so please go go go go."

"I am go, my gratitude," the winged man said, and then his presence vanished, and Blake could finally focus on reading again!

* * *

Teale ascended the stairs of the library, reaching the second floor of the space filled with books, data banks and other forms of recording. She headed for one particular corner, one where the computers were located. She knew Azuhrius preferred this place to the larger computers area of the lower floor, he liked his own peace and quiet away from the others when he was studying.

Teale passed between the tall bookshelves and the computers came into her view. There he was, sitting by the corner most machine, as the only other person in sight beside Teale. He was deeply preoccupied by the blue glowing screen in front of him, his eyes reflecting the light as they moved along the text on the screen.

Azuhrius noticed Teale only when she was almost by his side, and he quickly closet the tab he had been investigating. Teale managed to glimpse at a picture of what looked like a large fortress hanging in the air just before Azuhrius closet the window. The blue haired boy turned to her and revealed a collected smile to greet her.

"Teale, hi," he said, completely shifting his attention from the computer. "Can I help you with something?"

"Hi Az," Teale greeted with the sweetest smile she could muster. "I just got a call from Blake regarding you."

Azuhrius raised one of his brows. "From Blake?" Then his expression darkened. "Did Nox do something again?"

"Nox? No I don't think so," Teale replied.

"Did Orchid do something?"

"Not to my knowledge."

"Sangur?"

"No, nothing like that," Teale said. "Blake just called me so I could tell you someone is looking for you and your team. Some visitor apparently. I already told Nox when I happened to pass him by."

Azuhrius leaned backwards a little after hearing his team members were not up to no good again. "Really. What did Nox say?"

Teale took on an awkward smile. "He started to scream and fled the scene."

Azuhrius' eyes widened with some surprise. "Oh? Who is this visitor?"

"I am not really sure, Blake was kinda quick and unspecific. She said it was some _winged guy_? No idea what she was talking about."

For the first time since Teale had met Azuhrius, she saw an expression on his face that looked like fear. He paled just a bit, and his eyes looked for a second like he wished he had misheard her.

"Oh shit," he said with a small voice.

* * *

Nox was losing his shit and bouncing around the dorm room when Azuhrius entered through the door. Azuhrius closed the door just as Nox landed right in front of him.

"HE IS HERE!" Nox cried. " He has come for us! Shrike is here! He is coming kill usssss~" He whimpered in tears with terror framing his face. "We are fucking going to fucking die!"

"Nox, get your shit together!" Azuhirus barked as he staped past the freaked out Night Lord. "Let me think…" he said as he brushed his hair with his hand, trying to come up with something that would save their hides if Shrike was indeed here to end their lives. He looked around the room to find out how Sangur and Orchid were dealing with the situation.

"What happened to Orchid?" Azhrius asked as he spotted the said Legionnaire laying half off the bed, unmoving, multiple strange canisters and syringes surrounding him."

"He emptied all the drugs he had on hand into himself because he wanted to get more wasted than ever before he dies. Maybe die of overdose of epic proportions is he is lucky," Sangur replied stoically from where he was standing firmly as a tree, facing the door with his axes ready. There was strange calmness on his face, curious resolution, and if Azuhrius dared to say, serenity. "If this is to be my end, I shall face it without regret, just as I have faced life without fear. Blood for the Blood God…"

"If you are trying to come up with last words, try to be at least a bit more original!" Nox cried as he turned to Azuhrius. "Listen snake, I know this has to be your fault in some way. Something you have done has upset Shrike! I don't wanna die. I don't wanna die, so you're gonna have to. Go to Shike and apologize and beg like you have never before, and keep us out of this, so that when he kills you, at least the rest of us survive!"

"Your sense of camaraderie in the face of our imminent doom is admirable…" Azuhrius snapped as he tried to focus. What possible reason could Shrike have for coming here? Even a lunatic like Shrike would not cross the sea to another continent for nothing. Why would the old Raven care of anything Azuhrius was up to? Had he crossed the line, had he done something to make the champion of Undivided feel threatened? Had he said or done something that Shrike could think would harm the Legions or the Pacts of Terra to such a degree it warranted his termination? How would he get himself out of this? He had never prepared for this. He had no plan that could deal with Shrike with any chance of success with such short notice. What was he going to do?

There was a knock on the door, a single, echoing *klob*, and Azuhrius felt like his blood froze. Carefully, slowly, he turned on his heel to look at the door that had been opened at some point without any sound being made. And behind the doorway stood a dark specter of death.

Kiarana Shrike stepped into the room, his black raven wings folding to allow him in before enfolding in a way that seemed to take over half of the room. It felt like the light of the day coming from the window paled, and the temperature suddenly dropped few degrees. Shrike observed all four of them with his black beady eye lenses, tilting his masked head. He looked at Orchid who was out cold on the bed. He looked at Sangur who stood his ground and defiantly stared back without moving a muscle. He looked at Nox who was trying his best to make himself look small and insignificant behind Sangur. And he looked at frozen Azuhrius who was in front of him.

What could one do when confronted by such a being, Azuhrius thought? What could one do when face to face with a being that beyond doubt was able to kill you, maybe even without too much trouble, with no chance of you emerging victorious. What could anyone do when beholding a being that out classed you by such a margin that fighting or fleeing was impossible, and one had no solid base for negotiation. What could one do when one was at the mercy of such a being?

 _One can bow down and make oneself look very damn useful,_ Azuhrius thought as he prepared to get on his knees and talk like never before.

A rasping vice emerged from behind the bird-like mask, a voice echoing unnaturally with the blessing of the Warp, just as Shrike spread his arms. "How are you young ones doing!"

"We are ready for eternal war, Lord Shrike!" Sangur barked a greeting in kind.

* * *

"So you are not here to kill us?" Nox asked cautiously as he peeked from under the bed.

Shrike turned to look down at him, hunching slightly to get closer to Nox's face. Nox crawled back under the bed some more. "No, I am not here to kill anyone for now…" Shrike assure warmly.

"Good to hear," Nox squealed, making no attempt to emerge from his dark lair of the bed underworld, like a monster under the bed that parents warned their younger genetical progeny about.

Azuhrius was still going in his mind possible theories about why Shrike was here if not to kill any of them, even as he was very relieved that he got to live on. All the Legionnaires in Terra were alive because Shrike allowed them to live. "What brings you to Beacon, Lord?" Azuhrius inquired carefully. "Surely you must have a reason of utmost urgency and significance to travel all the way here."

"What?" Shrike said dementedly. "Oh, no no no no, I came here just to give a ride to that Neophyte."

"...What!?" Azuhrius yelped, suddenly noticing strange straps attached to Shrike's chest, like harnesses for carrying something small along one's chest. Or someone small. "You did not bring a Legionnaire Neophyte along with you, please tell me you did not..."

"That's exactly what I did!" Shrike said.

Azuhrius glanced at the door. "Where is he?"

"Oh I have no idea, we split up to search for you guys," Shrike shrugged.

"So there is a unsupervised Neophyte roaming around somewhere in this school?" Orchid said as he lifted his head up, clearly recovered from the drug infusions enough to regain some motor functions and his ability to form coherent sentences. "Lol!"

"Who is it?" Azuhrius asked, his mind suddenly making the recovery of the young Legionnaire his priority.

"I… don't remember this name at the moment…" Shrike said as he scratched the back of his head. "I have so many Legionnaires and neophytes to keep track of that I don't remember any of your names half the time, Ceruleon."

"...Azuhrius."

"What?"

Azuhrius face palmed. He was almost certain this was not just the Raven Guard's psyche being eroded by the Warp, he must be doing it purpose at least sometimes. "I am Azuhrius…"

Shrike just flailed his hand dismissively. "Whatever. You Alpha guys are nice in that regard I can just call you all Alpharius and you have no complaints."

 _I feel like you are misusing the name of the Primarch because you are lazy._

"I can't recall the name, but the Neophyte is of the VIIth Legion, the only one still left, you know the one.

Nox's head emerged from under the bed again. "Cerin?"

"Yeah, that's the one. I brought him here to see his brother," Shrike said with a happily rasping voice.

Azuhrius moved to the door, and Nox climbed up to join him. "We need to find him as soon as possible, before anything happens," Azuhrius said as he opened the door. A Neophyte on the loose could lead to some pretty catastrophic consequences. "You stay here, Lord Shrike. Don't let anyone see you." Azuhrius did not want to be the one to explain huge black bird wing mutations to the wider school. Hopefully he could pass them as mechanical constructs if anyone had seen them already. "We will find the Neophyte and bring him here. Orchid, Sangur, don't let anyone in."

* * *

"Did you write this?"

Weiss did not immediately rise his gaze from her long school essay she was working on. The subject was the weaknesses of different Grimm species and using them against the beasts. Her opening page alone contained more words than Ruby's entire essay, which was not looking like getting much longer. But Weiss was a diligent student, and she always gave her best. Nothing less could be expected of her.

"Please don't touch my school project while I am working on it," Weiss said as she glanced to her side. "Put that paper down." Then she was surprised slightly as she took in the one responsible for disrupting her.

Sitting on the table of the library, next to the large pile of paper Weiss had been working on for more than a hour, was a child. A black haired, black eyed, white skinned child in worn blue hoodie, reading one of the pages of Weiss' essay. He could not have been more than ten years old at most.

"Who are you?" Weiss asked, still not sure how she was supposed to react to a child so young in the library of a huntsman academy.

"Cerin," the child said, his large black eyes moving along the text of the page.

"Well, Cerin…" Weiss stuttered for a moment. "Can you even understand what it is saying?"

"I have no idea what half of this is trying to tell, but I know most of the words," Cerin replied. "It is about how to kill Grimm, right? So did you write this?"

"Yes, I am indeed the author of that page you took without permission," Weiss said with a hint of irritation in her voice.

"This is great, I had no idea you could murder things like this," Cerin said. "Exploiting the faults of you enemies, I like that. I came for the pictures, but there is actually some interesting stuff of value here. You must be pretty smart."

Weiss was wordless for a moment. "You think so?" she finally said once her bafflement subsided. It was nice to hear compliments and someone recognizing her brilliance, even if it came from a young child. She did not get much of either of those back at home. Her team and schoolmates rarely saw and recognized how exceptional she was, daring to call her sometime too proud, snooty, hard-ass or know it all. Especially Ruby! Dust take you Ruby, Weiss Schnee was not a snooty hard-ass! Weiss was the greatest of them all!

 _Oh yeah, I promised to keep a lid on these thoughts…_

"Well… thank you. I am glad you think that way," Weiss said with a happy smile. "You want to read the rest of it? Please tell me everything you find great about it, spare no detail!"

* * *

 **So as you might know, after this chapter, I will be focusing on my new Roboutian Heresy story for a while. Not sure how long it will take. I will see you again when No Man's Eye is done.**

 **Leave a review, if you feel it in your heart, and have a nice day.**


	42. Chapter 41

**Well, I am back to this story again. Did you miss me, did you miss me?**

 **With my RH story finished, I can again focus my efforts to this story, my main project. The exact date went by while I was busy with NMS, but Chaos is the prize is now two years old. The first chapter was posted a bit over two years ago. And I am nowhere near finished. The RWBY show keep going forward, and I can't end this story without knowing the canon ending.**

 **We have a new Legionnaire making appearance this time, someone who I decided to add to this story very recently. In addition to that we have all the stuff going on with Cerin. And pancakes. Of course there would be pancakes.  
**

* * *

 **Chaos is the Prize chapter 41**

 **"** _ **The ignorant mind, with its infinite afflictions, passions, and evils, is rooted in the three poisons. Greed, anger, and delusion."**_

 **-Bodhidharma**

"I see you found him," Sangur noted when Azuhrius and Nox returned back to their base of operation, as Azurhius sometime called it, or _dorm room_ , as everyone else did.

"Yes, and fuck, that took a long while," Nox said as he closed the door behind him, a much smaller Night Lord safely tucked to the crook of his arm, carried slackly by his older brother. Sangur saw the little Neophyte look into the room and lock eyes with him. The small being looked just like Nox. Same white pallor, same pitch black hair, same black eyes.

"A long while? We just left and found him in about fifteen or so minutes," Azuhrius said with frown as he moved into a corner of the room, standing in readiness as far away from Kiarana as he could.

"Really?" Nox said as he climbed to his high bunk bed, still carrying the Neophyte like a bag of stolen loot. "It felt to me like three or four months since we left this room."

"Anyway, might I ask, lord Shrike, what is your purpose for visiting us and bringing a Neophyte along?" Azuhrius asked from the corner of the room.

"Huh? Oh, he just wanted to see his brother again so I gave him a lift," Kiarana said dementedly as he twitched his wings.

"... _So you gave him a lift_?"

"Yes."

"You had no other reason to come and see us?"

"No."

"So you are only here because of the Neophyte?"

"Yes. Is there a problem?"

"Nonononon! Well, just a bit. I think maybe a huntsman academy is not a good place for a Neophyte. We are under a lot of watchful eyes and must act with caution, and a Neophyte might complicate that," Azuhrius said hastily.

"Well, deal with it," Kiarana said bluntly right into Azuhrius' face.

Sangur saw Azuhrius just stare with his mouth slightly open, unsure what to say.

"This is Cerin Deimos of the VIIIth Legion. Say hello to your older cousins, Cerin," Kiarana said.

"Greetings", Cerin said with a corpse smile from the top of the bunk bed, having finally wormed himself out from Nox's clutches. "Athrillay, vylas," he hissed to just Nox in serpentine Nostraman. No one knew what to say.

"Okay, I think my business if finishing here. I am heading back to Terra. It's a long flight ahead so I would not like to waste any time," Kiarana said while flexing his black wings a bit, moving towards the window. "I am leaving the Neophyte in your care. Look after him, feed him, and make sure he does not attack anything he cannot kill. I will order someone to come pick him up sooner or later."

Sangur was not exactly sure he understood what was going on. He glanced at the Neophyte. Cerin was having what looked like a staring contest with Orchid, neither of them blinking their locked eyes.

"But… but-" Azuhrius tried, even his adaptiveness leaving him without immediate words.

"No buts. If anything happens to the Neophyte, I will come back and kill all of you. Have a good time with your brother Cerin. Be nice everyone. Bye." With those words, Kiarana opened the window, climbed out to spread his wings, and took flight. The dorm room of Team ASON was left into tensed silence.

"Well, I am sure you know Nox," Azuhrius began after he got his thoughts together. "I am Azuhrius of the XXth, I am in charge here so you listen to everything I say and everything goes better for everyone. This is Sangur of the XIIth and Orchid of the IIIrd. Try to get along, I guess."

"Don't listen to anything he says," Nox said to Cerin. "Azuhrius is a madman who can get pretty fucking violent. I try to restrain him to best of my abilities but…" Nox grinned from his higher position. "And by the way, _team leader_ , the way I see it, the VIIIth Legion is now the largest one in the academy. Would that not make _me_ the one in charge?"

"In your dreams Nox," Azuhrius sighed in return.

"Hey fuck you shithead!" Nox barked angrily, the mention of dreams seemingly hitting a sore point.

Orchid seemed to finally win the staring competition, and instantly lost interest in the Neophyte. Sangur took the opportunity to move to the bunk bed to have a closer look. He was slightly lower than Cerin standing on the ledge, looking up at Neophyte. Seeing him made Sangur feel strange. He had not ever met any other Night Lords but Nox and his now dead brothers, so he was not quite sure how to react to the sudden appearance of a new son of the night.

"You are very violent looking," Cerin said right to Sangur's face as they stared at each other.

"You are very small," Sangur replied, not managing to come up with anything else to say.

* * *

Dunstan sat down by one of the tables of the dinerium, setting his meager cup of fish jerky and edible wild plants on it. He carefully took in the chamber, noting from his table how there were more people than usual. Ever since the plans for the upcoming operation had been set in motion and they had raided Mars, the Legionnaires had been eating together more and more. Before they had just all eaten wherever they pleased, having the slaves deliver them the food. Neophytes ate in their Legion chambers, because it was a lot safer, since fights often broke out when too many gathered together without the supervision of their elders.

Now the dinerium was more often than not used for its intended purposes. Maybe the recently emerged atmosphere of necessary cooperation was the cause, and the Legionnaires were more tolerant of suffering each other's company. There was war on the horizon after all. The promise of venting out the anger, bitterness and boredom through violence was making Legionnaires more patient, knowing it would not be long anymore.

Smurfus and Flavius, ever the duo, were sitting couple of tables away, waiting for the slave Siena to deliver their food rather than picking it up from the door of the cookerium like Dunstan had when he passed by. The old slave dutifully carried over cups of sustenance for the two, and they dug in without further notice.

Ceruleon was also there, sitting alone in one of the corner tables. His eyes met Dunstan's, but the two of them did nothing more than share common cursory look.

Vermilion entered the dinerium, picking up food and headed for an unoccupied table. Flavius reached out with his foot to try to trip the zealot of the XVIIth Legion as he passed by, but Vermilion avoid it. He had finally learned to watch out for that particular thing, and was not falling for the same trick for the 5th time apparently.

The Legionnaires ate silently but for the small conversation of Smurfus and Flavius. It came as a surprise when someone came from behind Dunstan and crashed to rest on the seat next to him. Dunstan turned to look with a raised brows, unsure who would want to sit next to him. His eye fell to a very tired and disheveled looking Legionnaire, one that he had not seen in a long time. It actually took a moment for him to dig up the warrior's name from his memory.

"Fionn?" Dunstan cried out with surprise. "Fionn?!"

Every other head in the delirium snapped immediately to the direction of the Dunstan, locking on to the figure next to him.

"Well I be damned, it is really is Fionn..." Smurfus said.

"Where the hell did you crawl from, we thought you died?!" Vermilion growled as he rose up and started making his way towards Dunstan's table. There was a loud crash as he fell face first onto the floor since Flavius rose from his table as well and tripped Vermilion with his foot.

"Well clearly I did not," the boy next to Duntan muttered as he laid on the table without looking at anyone.

Fionn was a pale boy with thin, strained face, and he was covered in dirt and worn oil stains like he had just crawled across an industrial wasteland, which he probably had. Not that he had been any cleaner before his disappearance. He had dark iron gray eyes and black unkempt hair with white fringes. He looked disheveled like only someone who had been missing for five whole months could. He actually looked almost like a worshiper of the Plague Lord in his worn and dirty appearance, only missing all the all the rot and pus.

His right hand was a prosthetic one, made from metal that looked so suffering and a lot gone through that Dunstan suspected it only worked because of assistance from Aura. Dunstan had never heard if the metallic replacement limb was because of battle wounds, or if Fionn had simply replaced it from his own free will, like the sons of the Iron Tenth were not beyond doing.

Fionn was wearing thick leather gloves on his only hand of flesh and a light gray short sleeved shirt covered in stains, along with a single black armor shoulder guard displaying a white "X" numeral of his Legion. He had heavy cargo pants help up by overlapping tool belts lined by hanging suspender loops. A black bandana was hanging around his neck.

"How the fuck are you back now, I heard the Grimm took you on that scavenging mission? Everyone who made it back said you were killed in action," Flavius asked.

"I survived," Fionn said bluntly with a tired voice. "If only the others had been as as thorough with checking my unconscious body for vitals as they were with looting my weapons…"

"So you did not die? What took you so long?" Ceruleon asked.

"I was stranded on the far side ruins of Terra, without water, food or weaponry but from my iron hand. It took a while to get back."

"You were gone for _five months_! How did you even survive out there that long?" Ceruleon pressed.

"It was a very uncooperative ruined cityscape. You would not believe what I had to scavenge and consume to remain alive. So if you could… maybe shut up, I would like to finally eat some actual food…" Fionn lifted his head towards Sienna. "Slave… food…"

The slave obeyed, and quickly fetched an extra large cup of the fish jerky to Fionn who looked like he had not eaten anything for days. He proceeded to devour the plain meal with fervor that no other Legionnaire could possible show after eating the same one sided food for years.

"Hey, this means we finally have a proper Tech-adept among us!" Vermilion suddenly realised.

Dunstan realized the zealot was right for once. They had been severely lacking technical expertise ever since they had accidentally murdered their last remaining Tech-adept. The new ones among the Neophytes could not even nearly fill that hole, they were far too young yet. Now they finally had someone who knew _how to machines,_ a mature Iron Hand no less.

Fionn's eating session was brutally disturbed as every other Legionnaire in the room suddenly and vocally started demanding his services for wargear maintenance, weapon crafting and just generally telling him to fix broken shit around the place.

* * *

"Why are you here?" Cerin asked.

"That's one of the life's great mysteries, isn't it?" Nox replied. "Why are we here? Is this all part of some cosmic coincidence, or is one of the pantheon's Gods dick'ing us over and watching everything. I don't know, and I don't care."

The two of them and Sangur were sitting on the roof of the dorm building, gazing over the yard painted by the setting sun. Nox was hanging his metallic legs over the ledge, and Cerin was doing the same thing with his flesh and bone ones. Sangur was just sitting behind them by the door to the roof, absently leaning forwards before smashing the back of his head against the wall every other minute. Nox had heard from him that such an impact sometimes relieved the pain for the briefest of moments.

"Ozpin…" Nox snarled. "The Headmaster. He has something of mine, and I am unable to go against him as long as he hold it over me. That is the reason we have not yet absconded from this place. We can't leave, not yet. That is all you need to know for now."

Cerin though about the words for a long while, tilting tilting his young frame as his black eyes took in all the nooks and crannies of the yard below them. "And I take you can't just kill him and claim what is yours from his cold dead hands?"

"That's a given. If he was that weak, I would have slain him a long time ago," Nox growled. "He is a powerful and clever man, and we must act carefully under his gaze lest we give him excuse to act against us. We are currently maintaining mutual agreement of convenience for now."

"And what about Azuhrius?" Cerin asked, glancing over his shoulder like he was afraid the Legionnaire of the XXth was within hearing distance.

"He is an ally of convenience in these circumstances. The only thing you can trust about him is that he will not cause trouble if it would go against his interest in this Kingdom. He has some grand plans, but I don't think you need to worry about them," Nox said while scratching the brick of the ledge with his taloned legs.

"Oh I know he has big plans, everybody back in Terra knows it," Cerin said. "He seems to be preparing for something big, but no one knows the details. You would not happen to know anything?"

"I only know he is aware of some kind of storm brewing in the horizon, and I think he intends to use it for his gains. He is opportunistic, and like everyone else who has paid any attention of recent events, he knows there is something coming, and he intends to harvest all the benefit he can from it."

"He is not the only one. Others in the ruins of Terra have noticed the signs, and now their gazed are drawn to east as well, towards the central Kingdom," Cerin said. "There is speak of war."

"There is always speak of war," Nox pointed out. "But… this time there might something more true in those words."

"What are we going to do?" Carin asked with glinting eyes.

"We?" Nox asked.

"You. Me." Cerin then glanced at Sangur.

Nox followed that gaze. "The World Eater stands with us, no matter what may come. Of all our cousins, he is the only one you can count on. We go long way back, he and me. When you speak of "we" in the future, include him as well."

"I understand, " Cerin said while turning away from Sangur. "So what are _we_ going to do regarding future. What is our part in the war to come?"

"Our part in the plans of Terra?" Nox huffed. "Nothing. We have no part. It does not concern us. I want nothing to do with those bastards hiding in the ruins of a dead empire."

Cerin opened his mouth, looking confused, surprised, disappointed, a bit off all of them at the same time. "But… but If there is war to be waged, why would we leave ourselves out of it? I don't understand, brother." The nine year old Neophyte stood up to fully turn to Nox. "Why should we not claim our share of the storm of war? Why should we not claim our share of the spoils? Why should we not strike against the Kingdoms standing on the tomb of our Imperium?"

"Because they are not going to succeed," Nox replied with a twisted mouth. "They are dying remnants of the Legions, numbering a handful of damned and cursed warriors. What are they going to do against the might of the Kingdoms? Hear me when I say this, they are only going to get themselves killed trying to prove something meaningless, just like everyone else before them. I don't want to fall with them."

Nox let out a pained sigh. "You have lived your entire Venatore life in Terra, so you can't see it, but there is life and survival outside as well. That is why me and Sangur left. Our cousins are only going to kill us or get us killed sooner or later if we stay with them. I don't want to be devoured by anyone's ambition, madness or struggle in the Great Game of Chaos. We Legionnaires are a depraved lot, and trust me when I say we can't achieve anything even remotely great. We can't rise above the binding of our fate. So I want nothing to do with Terra, I want nothing to do with our cousins, I want nothing to do with the Dark Gods and I don't give a damn about anyone's plans. So give up any notions that success, survival, victory, anything of those can be found in the catacombs of Terra. At least the outside world has a chance for them."

Cering looked at Nox with defiance in his eyes. "You are wrong, brother."

"I would rather danger being wrong and alive than risk being right and dead," Nox simply noted back. "The only relation I would have with the _oh so grand plans of Terra_ is me slipping away in the cover of the mess they are going to create."

Nox smelled the air. He could feel his saliva starting to flow. "But enough about all that. Brother, do you know what that smell is?"

Cerin frowned and then started sniffing the air. Nox watched as the Neophyte took in the sweet smell faintly drifting in the air. "No, I do not. What is it?" Cerin finally asked.

Nox leaned forward with a grin on his face. "Tell me, what do you know about _pancakes_?"

* * *

When Weiss finally finished her work in the library and headed back towards the dorms, she found the whole place in turmoil. Her teammates were jumping all over their dorm room, chasing something small that was very determinedly avoiding their clutched. There were stuff flying across the room, screaming, and Ruby was on her knees on the floor, crying over a large pile of some brown crumbs. " _My coooooookieeeeeees_!" She whimpered. "They were innocent…"

"What is going on in here?" Weiss asked as she dodged a book thrown aside by Yang trying to catch a hold of something under a bunk bed.

"We received pancakes from Team JNPR, you can guess the rest." Blake said from the other end of the bunk bed where she was blocking the way.

Weiss facepalmed. Weisspalmed one could say. "Oh, does it have something to do with Team ASON?"

"It has everything to do with Team ASON!" Yang yelled. "Nox broke trough the window again and took sme from the closest plate of pancakes before we could stop him. And he was not alone."

"He had an accomplice," Blake continued. "Nox fled with a portion of the pancakes, but we managed to keep the rest from his clutches, and we managed to prevent the accomplice from escaping."

"You forget to mention the part where they crushed my cookies in the middle of the fight, the worst part!" Ruby cried.

"So, I assume we are not talking about Sangur as the accomplice if the said accomplice is currently cornered by you under the bed?" Weiss inquired, slightly tilting her head to get a better look.

"Yes, he is here alright!" Yang said as she kicked herself forward. "AHAAA, got you you slippery little thief!" Yang rose to her feet, her right hand extended long to hold out something, or rather someone. That someone was a young child that Weiss found she recognized.

"Cerin?" Weiss let out.

" _RELEASE ME YOU WRETCHES, I AM THE NIGHT!_ " The boy cursed as he was hang from his foot by Yang. He swinged and struggled, finally managing to flip himself high enough to grab a hold of Yang's arm. He opened his mouth and bit down on the arm, trying to chew through it to release himself. Yang just looked on with raised brows, her Aura easily holding.

"What is this?" Blake asked.

"I am not sure. It _looks_ like Nox. But it is much smaller," Yang said as she observed the small being trying to amputate her arm with its teeth.

"It does not have metallic lower limbs either," Ruby pointed out. "Is it some kind of new Nox species?"

"It does look much like a mini-Nox," Yang agreed. "And it behaves like one."

"YOUR SUFFERING WILL BE GREAT, MY VENGEANCE TERRIBLE!"

"I think it is his little brother. His name is Cerin, by the way." Weiss said.

Everyone's eyes locked onto her. "This is getting out of hand!" Yang cried out, still holding Cerin firmly in the grip of her right hand. "Now there is _two_ of them!"

"Weiss! Weeeeeeiss!" Cerin cried out now that he had noticed her. "Help me Weiss! Help meeee!"

"Yang, let go of him," Weiss said with a controlled sigh.

"What? Do you have any idea how hard it was to catch him?" Yang questioned. "What if he breaks out the havoc again and goes for our pancakes?"

"He is not going to do that, right Cerin?" Weiss asked.

"No I will not, I swear, I will not," Cerin instantly squirmed.

"See? Now release him," Weiss said.

"He is just saying that to get himself free!" Yang tried, but Weiss moved forward to took hold of her arm. With Weiss' help, Cerin dropped to the floor, flipping himself so that he landed on his feet. He instantly took cover behind Weiss.

"Save me Weiss, they are going to kill me," Cerin hissed.

"They are not going to do anything to you," Weiss reassured him. "You know what, if you want pancakes, you can have my share. I was not hungry for them anyway."

Cerin looked up to her like she was a some kind of angel of generosity. Weiss found the look quite flattering. She moved across the room, and Cerin came with her, keeping her always between himself and Yang. Weiss picked up a plateful of Pancakes and handed it down to the short child. "Here you go. Try to ask nicely next time, rather than breaking in through the window."

"Yes…" Cerin said as he beheld the pancakes, then lifted his black eyes to Weiss. "Kosh, kosh'eth tay…" he spoke with some language Weiss did not understand. "Well, you should probably go now. See you again." Weiss said as she escorted Cerin to the door.

"Yes… see you again… Weiss."

Nox was sitting on the roof when Cerin walked through the rooftop door, and a pancake plate in his small hands no less. Nox had himself managed to grab only couple of pancakes and they had been torn badly in the violence of his escape. Cerin had many more with him. "Well done, brother," Nox said as he welcomed Cerin back. "Good job out there, you got the pancakes."

"You left me behind!" Cerin growled.

"It was a calculated move," Nox said dismissively. "I counted on the confusion you would create when they saw you for the first time. I knew they would not dare to do anything to you. They are weak and soft like that."

"But you still left me."

"Hey, if it had been me who they had captured, they would have lynched me to a bloody pulp. You survived without a scratch. Have some sense of relativity, jeez," Nox said as he reached for the pancake plate. "But let's not dwell on that. Let's focus on what matters."

Nox took the plate and pointed at the treats on it. "There, these are pancakes, the greatest things you will ever eat."

"Really?" Cerin said with hint of skepticism on his face.

"Yes. Go on, take some. Taste it…"

Cerin reached out and soon the first pancake swiftly vanished down his throat. He looked at Nox with wide eyes. Tears started forming in the corners.

"Well? Better than that endless fish jerky and fucking weeds back in Terra?" Nox said as he took a pancake for himself to gorge upon. Cerin reached for another and soon they were both brutally devouring the content of the plate.

"I… I fuckign hate fish jerky..." Cerin cried as he ate, tears flowing down his face.

"Me too, brother," Nox said, also weeping.

* * *

 **Cerin is going to be staying in Beacon for a short while. Escapades ensue. And we got an Iron Hand. Who has an iron hand. Who is the progeny of someone named Iron Hands, who also had iron hands. Maybe I have to add him to the great Legionnaire picture on my DeviantArt at some point.**

 **Feel so good to write this again, I had forgotten how easy it is to do as well. Hopefully I can get V2.5 done in no time. A new RWBY volume started while I was busy writing other things. So far looks good, nothing too bad that would mess up my story. Hopefully it remains that well. Though the amount of magic has risen drastically in the show. They should be careful when wielding the power of the Warp.**

 **I would like to thank Lord Caedus, who has made some Chaos is the Prize tribute videos on his Youtube channel, as well as said very nice things about it in his talk videos. Go and check them out, just search for Chaos is the Prize.**

 **Leave a review if you feel like it, and have a nice day.**


	43. Chapter 42

**Here I go again. I always wonder how I am going to fill the later half of my chapter with stuff to meet the average word count, and in the end I overshoot the 4000 word count I aim at.**

 **This chapter requires moderate consumption of Warp dust before reading.**

* * *

 **Chaos is the Prize Chapter 42**

 ** _"I tried to salvage your pride by telling you honestly and clearly. Look at Xarl. Look at Lucoryphus. Look at the Exalted. Look at Halasker, or Dal Karus, or any son of the Eight Legion. The blood on our hands is there because human fear tastes so very fine. Not through vengeance or righteousness, or to ensure our father's name echoes through the ages. We are Eighth Legion. We kill because we are born to kill. We slay because it is fuel for the soul. Nothing else remains to us. Accept that, and... and stand... with us."_**

 **-Uzas of the Night Lords**

* * *

"What are you doing?" Azuhrius asked as he entered the dorm room.

Nox, Cerin, and Sangur did not turn to look at him, they simply kept looking at a painfully small scroll screen, apparently enjoying a video of some sort. Azuhrius could hear violent crashing noises and screaming from the device.

"We are watching horror movies," Nox said with his black eyes lit by the light of the scroll.

"Why?" Azuhrius asked as he threw some school work onto his bed.

"For inspiration," Cerin grinned.

There was a loud noise from the video, and all of them chuckled. Even Sangur seemed slightly entertained. "Hah, the head came off..." the XIIth Legionnaire grunted.

"Where did you get that movie, and how did you get it to work? I though you don't know how scrolls work," Azuhius questioned Nox.

"From the library, and my little brother here got it to work. It is amazing how talented kids these days are with arcane technology."

"Turns out you had to pick the movie and press _play_ rune _,"_ Cerin chirped.

"I see. Whatever suits you," Azuhrius said. "By the way Nox, you did not happen to cause any sort of aggressions towards the dorm room of Team RWBY yesterday, did you?"

"What, just because something happened to that team I am instantly a suspect? Baseless accusations I say!"

"As an answer to your questions, yes, we did raid their room for pancakes," Cerin continued. "One of the best decision of my life."

"Welcome to the pancake war," Sangur muttered quietly.

"Why would you raid Team RWBY's dorm, I though JNPR was the one to produce pancakes?" Azuhrius sighed.

"Well they share their cookings with Team RWBY so often, they are like one huge team. And it is much easier to steal from RWBY than JNPR," Nox shrugged.

"How so?" Orchid asked with a muffled voice from the corner of the room where he was doing drugs while choking himself.

"Ruby is easy to demoralize and does not have what it takes to retaliate. You should have seen how she cried when I butchered her cookies. Weiss is impartial, like she doesn't even care about Pancakes, as crazy as it sounds. Blake is not much worse. Yang is the only real threat," Nox explained.

"That does not sound too different from JNPR," Azuhrius pointed out. He could not believe Ren or Pyrrha reacting anyway volatile.

"There is a difference," Nox replied. "Yang is a dangerous bitch, that is clear, and I don't fear her wrath. But Nora… _Nora_ is _nasty_ …"

"Well if you did do all that yesterday, that would explain why Yang and Nora were talking about kicking your ass by the library," Azuhrius shrugged. "It seemed Nora was very eager to join in despite not suffering the attack herself. Something about the sisters in arms for the pancake war."

"Oh shit," Nox said, instantly jumping from where he had been hunched by the scroll. "Thanks for the heads up. See, brother, this is what I was talking about," He said to Cerin. "Where were they when you last saw them? How long do you think until they get here?"

"I would say maybe 20-30 seconds." Azuhrius said.

There were angry knocks on the door.

"Make that -5 seconds," Axuhrius corrected himself.

"Shit, I better get out of here!" Nox winced as he headed for the window. "Women and Neophytes last, they will distract them!" Nox opened the window. "Sangur, try to hold them if you can, just tackle them when they enter or something and keep them back as long as you can. Azuhrius, take care of my brother for a while."

"Yeah, no deal, I am not staying in this room," Azuhrius said as he moved into the corner of the room and turned invisible with his Semblance. He was going to slip away through the door as soon as a chance presented itself.

"Fine, be that way, I did not want your help anyway," Nox growled as he jumped on the window frame. "Orchid, take care of my brother."

"Hmm? Okay," Orchid said, standing up and pulling forth his sword.

" _No_ , no, don't kill him, just _literally_ take care of him," Nox said as he turned to dive out through the window. "Cerin, I will be back as soon as I can get these wenches off my backAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!"

Azuhrius saw how in the middle of his jump, Nox was suddenly brutally intercepted by death from above as a large silver hammer and a ginger haired girl riding it came down from above the window. There was a sickening sound as Nox's head was hit by the hammer and then he fell from sight. Nora's murderous roars could be heard beyond the window. Apparently they had learned to watch the windows with Nox.

Not much after that the door flew open and Yang stormed through the room. As expected, Sangur charged right at her, brutally shoulder smashing into her. That only made her angrier.

Azuhrius saw the way to the door was clear, and he took his chance. He slipped out in the cover of his Semblance cloaking him from sight, and soon he was standing in the corridor outside.

Lie Ren was waiting there, observing by the door. "If we don't end the pancake war, the pancake war will end us..." he said as he peeked into the room currently being deconstructed one punch at the time.

* * *

"Hey, Ceruleon," he heard someone call out behind him. Ceruleon turned on his heels, throwing his gaze into the direction of the corridor he had just come from, and saw a Word Bearer carrying a tall star icon, walking towards him.

"What do you want, Vermilion?"

Vermilion stopped beside Ceruleon, holding his icon reverently in his hand. "I was looking for Fionn, need to talk him about something. Have you any idea where he is, he is not in the Iron Hand Neophyte chamber nor his old personal chambers."

Ceruleon started walking, and Vermilion followed him. "I would hazard a guess he is in the forge."

"We have a _forge_?!" Vermilion said like he had only heard it for the first time.

"If it can be called that when taking into account the shape of all of the machines and equipment there," Ceruleon continued.

"Where do we have a forge…?" Vermilion muttered to himself.

"It is not your fault that you don't know where it is, I hid it away to stop people from ruining it further. I just recently unhid it when Fionn came back," Ceruleon said with a faint smile. "I am actually going there right now myself, so you can just come along."

"Wait, you _hid_ a _forge_?"

"Yes, I did."

"How the hell did you do that?"

"Same way I hid our last remaining game console."

Vermilion frowned. "We don't have any game consoles left."

"That is because I hid it," Ceruleon laughed.

"Where?"

"Into the Legionnaire's Card Game arena of these catacombs."

Vermilion frowned even more deeply. "We don't have such an arena..."

Ceruleon laughed even louder.

It did not take long before the two of them arrived to the forge. It was rather close to what was left of the current arming chambers, and the way that has previously been half collapsed had been very recently cleared of rubble and debris. There had once been huge metallic doors to the chambers, but those had long since been stolen by somebody. Ceruleon wondered why anyone would want to swipe huge ugly metal doors. Most likely they had been melted down for materials.

The entrance chamber was lit by very recently hoisted lumen bulbs hanging from the roof chains. There were numerous ways into other chambers and sub sections, but those remained unlit with because of their inuse. The chamber had couple of working stations, bench tables and piles of scrap, as well as broken machines lined by the walls. It looked like a place where an old priest of Mars would have crawled to die.

Fionn was working by one of the tables, slightly hunched over it as his hands, bot the flesh one and the metallic one, worked. He didn't even glance at the door when Ceruleon and Vermilion arrived.

"What are you doing?" Vermilion asked from the Iron Hand.

"Working," Fionn flatly stated the obvious like he could not give shit about Vermilion's presence. Ceruleon noted his metallic hand was now much more refined and usable. It had clearly gone through a lot of maintenance, as it had certainly needed it, but now it was working with almost real flesh like precision. Fionn was working on a spear or a javelin of some sort, seemingly put together from any material he had available, which meant pretty much only scrap. It had a triangular tip that possessed what looked like a small ramshackle dust patchwork weapon looked like it had been put together from scavenged pieces that had no business of being part of the same thing, but it was seemingly becoming a passable tool of war, achieving functionality if not any sort of fine aesthetics.

"You seem to be making good use to what little we have," Ceruleon noted. "Decent work considering the lack of equipment."

"The equipment situation has not certainly got better while I was gone," Fionn grunted absendly. "We barely have any working lasscutters. Anything more complex equipment is debris beyond salvation."

"Certainly. Updating our weapon making capabilities is of utmost importance."

"Absolutely," Fionn said with more feel than anything he had said till then, the matter clearly of great importance to him. "You could have picked up other things that just that thing over there when you visited Mars."

Ceruleon quickly glanced into the direction of one the corners. The machine they had taken from Mars was there, lifted on a platform and surrounded by tools. Not those tools tho, the Neophytes were nowhere to be seen. Chromos and Ferro had done fine job with the device, but it was good they had Fionn to make sure it worked properly. Ceruleon did not see the two Neophytes anywhere, and assumed Fionn had send them away because of the shouting.

"The Genestealers were not very welcoming hosts," Vermilion snarled. "You are free to go on your own technology scavenging journeys there, see hot that goes. Try to get back fater than five months this time."

Both Ceruleon and Fionn ignored the Word Bearer.

"We are working on acquiring equipment from other sources," Ceruleon said. "Our next operation should complete the groundwork for taking what we need. Azuhrius is working hard in Vale set things up."

"Ah yes, your brother is in the central Kingdom," Fionn said like he only remembered it now. "I heard he has been very busy. I saw those warcmahines you acquired, very impressive." Fionn looked truly interested for the first time. "If you would only allow me to work with them."

"They are weapons of the XXth, and we don't currently need your expertise with them," Ceruleon simply stated. He did not want to let Fionn get hold of the Paladins, just like he did not want them in the hand of any of his cousins. The XXth did not share those hard won bounties.

Fionn simply shrugged. He lifted the javelin in his hand, observing it along its length. Then he lifted it over his shoulder in his metal hand, pulled back and threw it across the room. The weapon impacted a makeshift target in the corner, impaling itself along two other similar weapons. Fionn nodded to himself and started gathering new parts. It seemed he was going to make more. "I hope Azuhriu's efforts lead to something useful. His infiltration mission feels like unnecessary complications and medling to me, but if he manages to get results with those methods of his than that is all I care. Infiltrating a huntsman academy? He was always unconventional one..." It seemed like that topic had reached the end of Fionn's interest, for he trailed off and focussed on the parts in his hands again.

"I still think the whole idea is insane," Vermilion inputted, but nobody cared what Vermilion had to say.

"He is very resourceful with what he does, you cannot deny that," Ceruleon said. "Maintaining an infiltration involving a World Eater, Night Lord and Emperor's Children Legionnaires, that is not an easy job. I am not sure I could do it myself. Only he could possibly make something like that work."

"Still waste of time, I think," Vermilion said as he turned to Fionn. "Hey tech adept, I need your talents. My pistol has been acting out recently and I need you to fix it. And reinforce my icon while you are at it." Vermilion paused. "Actually, forget that, I cannot give this holy thing into your faithless hands," He said while gripping his long icon, that he probably slept with, more firmly. Ceruleon was not sure if Vermilion was even capable of letting go of the thing, he had never seen him lay it down now that he thought about it.

"Yeah, sure, whatever..." Fionn said like he was not even listening.

"And I would like to inquire about our bolt shell manufacturing situation," Ceruleon said.

"No bolt shells until we get heavy machinery from somewhere, I can't just make those with this scrap. Still way beyond our capabilities," Fionn said with half interest. "Tell Azuhrius to send such equipment and materials and I will happily get on it."

"Unavailable for now," Ceruleon said.

"You can actually leave me alone. I cannot even fix that relic breastplate of the XIIIth that Smurfus gave to me until I get some better equipment," Fionn grunted. Ceruleon was surprised Smurfus had allowed his treasured Armor of Plott out of his hands, even for maintenance that would make it usable again.

"Smurfus? Forget about anything that slick and pompous wretch has told you to do, take a look at my pistol," Vermilion demanded.

"What did you just call me?" came a voice from the door, and Vermilion and Ceruleon turned to see the devil that had been spoken of. Smurfus marched in with his axe held loosely over his shoulder, glaring at Vermilion. "Care to repeat that, I don't think I heard correctly?"

"It was nothing," Vermilion just growled.

"Don't deny it, I heard you call me slick and pompous wretch, Fionn heard too and can confirm that, can't you Fionn?" Smurfus said, ignoring Ceruleon.

"Yes yes, I can confirm..." Fionn said his gaze down like he did not care at all. "You _are_ a slick and pompous wretch..."

* * *

Nox walked through the high trees, brushing aside some innocent bystander bushes with his Dike Talon, they never had a chance. Cerin was not far behind him, ever only three paces from his brother. It was starting to get dark. The dark was a welcome thing.

"Are we there yet?" Cerin asked for the fifth time.

"Clearly no." Nox grunted back.

"Why did you have to leave it so far away?"

"Because that is the point. It is far away from the eye of others."

After two more _are we there yets_ they reached a small opening, and more importantly the thing that was occupying it. Cerin ran past Nox, jumping with excitement. He reached the vehicle and with nimble feet started climbing all over it. "Where did you get it?" he asked as he stared through the cockpit of the Atlesian military gunship.

"There was this one guy who tried to steal something that was rightfully mine. I saw an opportunity and I took it. I killed him and took his craft, for it would have been waste to leave to behind," Nox said with a grin as he reached the closed entrance ramp in the back of the fuselage.

"What do you call it?" Cerin asked. "It has a name, right?"

" _Night Reaver_ ," Nox purred with a wide smile. "And don't tell me it sounds stupid."

"What, hell no, that is like the coolest name ever," Cerin replied.

"I know _right_?" Nox manipulated the controls by the hatch and the ramp slowly opened, allowing them in. Cerin rushed in, exited like a child on a death duel day. Nox followed in, kicking a small box out oh his way while doing so. The inside of the fuselage was still filled with scattered crates and containers, the very same that had come with the ship the night Nox stole it. Cerin was jumping up and down, inspecting the crates and investigating the small storage lockers in the walls.

"What is all this stuff?" Cerin asked as he opened a large locker by the roof, quickly emptied it of some junk, tested if he fit, and because he fit he sat.

"I am not sure, I have not inspected half of it." Nox grunted. "They came with the ship. Some chemicals, a dust pack, tools and other equipment. Maybe for the craft's maintenance, I don't know."

Nox opened the hatch to the cockpit and made once over look. Everything was as he had left it.

"What's with the skull?" Cerin asked as he jumped on top of Nox to observe better.

Nox grabbed him by the neck and almost gently tossed him down. "I took it from the guy I took this craft from. I threw the rest of him into the sea but I kept the skull to bring some spirit into this depressingly utilitarian interior. It has a nice vibe into it, right?" Nox lifted his talon, flicking the skull with the same metallic tip he had used to impale it while it was still alive. The Skull was send racking back and forth on the short stick it was attached on the side of the controls.

"Neat. We need more of these," Cerin grinned, taking a turn to poke the skull.

Nox sat down on the pilot's chair, lifting his metallic legs on top of the control panel. "Well, here it is, my very own gunship. There are others like it but this one is mine. When whatever phantom menace that has been looming over the horizon for the past year arrives, I will get what Ozpin took from me, take something additional as a interest, loot Vale as much as I can while the chaos hopefully reigns, and then I will take my ship and get the hell away from this fucking Kingdom. I have to be careful, I don't have too much fuel dust left, and I don't know where to steal more. I have not yet decided If I want to go to Vacuo or Mistral after that. Both have their benefits. Atlas is too cold in this and every time of the year. "

"You could come back to Terra with me," Cerin said, tinkering with some sort of emergency extinguisher he had found behind a side panel.

"Ain't happening. I don't want to ever return there. What is there to go back to? Only catacombs filled with strife, hate, betrayal, and certain death. I prefer it when those things are not directed at me."

"Terra is our home," Cerin said quietly.

Nox laughed. He laughed, loudly, actually feeling amusement kindling inside of him. "We had a home, brother." Nox chuckled back. "Our Legion's home. But the two of us never saw it. Because our Father had our Legion burn it to the ground long before either of us were born."

A sudden idea came to Nox. "You know what, when I leave this Kingdom, that is where I am going very first. I am going to go see our _home_." Nox formed an expression that was not a smile but not quite frown. "I am going to go see the ashes of Nostramo. That is what you should see too, come with me."

"I am going back to Terra," Cerin replied.

Nox locked his black eyes with his brother's mirroring ones. "Why?" he asked finally.

"Because that is where we Legionnaires live. It is where we induct new recruits into the Legion, where we arm and train them, and from where we will go to war when the time comes."

"Correction, you go to war with each other all the time," Nox snarled. "You are young, you are stupid. You have not experienced life for long, and your mind is a mess because of the transformation process still happening inside you. I know what it is like, Neophytes are fuckign confusing and impulsive." Nox sighed. "Sure, go back to Terra. I expect Shrike to demand it actually. Wait till you get older, till you have more experience under your belt. I will be waiting, if you decide to change your mind and come with me. Try to get out before you die."

"You have given up hope," Cerin said, the statement so childish and stupid sounding that Nox could not form an answer immediately. "You have given up on rebuilding the Legion. You don't care anymore about anything but yourself. You have given up."

"I... " Nox muttered, searching for words. "It is not _hope,_ that makes you have have such thought about our Legion. It is delusion, it is desperation. It is ignorance of the realities." Nox sighed. Then he let out a laugh. "Ignorance… Ignorance can be bliss." He frowned. "I remember… I was a lot… happier… before I learned the truth of the world. Before I learned what waits us beyond the veil..." Nox looked down. "I try to keep it from my mind, but one does not forget something like that."

"Do we… deserve it?" Cerin said out of the left field, letting out questions most bizarre. "Deserve it. The damnation?"

Nox lifted his gaze, and for a long while just looked at his brother's black eyes. What kind of stupid question was that? Only a Neophyte's undeveloped brain could even come up with something like that, no mature Legionnaire would have entertained something like that. A ridiculous answer, yet still possessing a rather definitive and simple answer.

"Does it matter?" Nox finally said.

Cerin shrugged and they spent a moment in silence.

"They are going to War. Those of our cousins back at Terra." Cerin said after a while. "Do you know what _Aegis_ is?"

Nox shrugged. "Never heard of it. Sounds like something military related, if I had to make a guess."

"That is their target. They are going to attack _Aegis_ ," Cerin explained. "They are going to attack it, and claim something big. Something that will help us rise again. It will be a major strike against the Kingdoms, bigger than anything Legions have done it decades." Cerin looked right into Nox's eyes. "I want you to come with me and help us."

Nox puffed. "And why would I do that? A major attack? Those are dangerous you know, people die in attacks. The Kingdoms outnumber and outgun us with such ridiculous margins it is not even funny. I think our cousins are going to their deaths. I think they are going to die at throwing themselves against this _Aegis_."

"You said you needed fuel, you could claim that fuel for you craft from Aegis," Cerin said, surprising Nox. "I am pretty sure our target has gunships like this, so there should be fuel for them as well, right? That could be your goal, what you get out of this." Cerin came closer to Nox, his eyes burning with faith and optimism of the youth. Youth, so easily deceived, for youth was quick to hope. "But more importantly it will be war. Don't you want war, brother? Is that not what were created for? Don't lie to me that you don't want to. You want, I can see it. You are just _afraid."_

Nox's hand came up, his talons lowering themselves by Cerin's neck in almost caress like motion, the gesture devoid of any warmth by the presence of the sharp blades. "I don't like the way you are talking to me…" Nox hissed dangerously.

"Brother, come with me. We will do it together, you and me. Claim your fuel, claim more skulls for your ship. Claim revenge against the Kingdoms. Revel in the blood and fear of our enemies. Feel like Night Lord again…" Cerin whispered. "You have a gunship. You can fly into safety the moment if it seems like things are going to hell. War, brother! Can't you feel its call, feel it in your blood? Join me. Let us make war together."

Nox could feel the temptation. Somehow, the words of his younger brother were reaching to him, waking something he had buried. They brought back memories of days when he was like that, when war was all he dreamed of. He could feel the call. He wanted to feel those sensations. Slowly, something that he had suppressed inside of him, started to burn, a flame that was fed by his thirst, hunger, anger, envy and bitterness. He wanted war. Would it really be so bad and dangerous to seek it?

"What… what of the others?" Nox said, some remnants of hesitation still lingering in him. "Our cousins. They don't care about us, and we can't count on them. They might even happily turn their weapons on us if a good opportunity emerged…"

"Come on brother, it is not like we are going to share a front with them, pushing forward side by side. We can do the attack in our way, VIIIth Legion way, far away from them and the danger they might face. Not like they can count on us either. We look out for ourselves, claim the rewards, don't share the losses." Cerin said with a grin. " _What of_ _the others_? They will be there, and we benefit. If they can't take care of themselves against the enemy, let the Warp take them."

Nox smiled. Suddenly, this sounded like something he could get behind.

* * *

"Sangur, we are joining our cousins for war!" Nox declared as he stormed into the dorm room.

Only Sangur was in the room, and it took a long moment for him to realize the meaning of Nox's words. When he finally did, he was not sure he had heard correctly. "You… are you serious? Truly?" This was sounding too good to be true.

"Yes, I am dead serious," Nox said as he jumped on his bed and started searching for something in the depths of his pillow stash. "I spoke with Cerin, and he convinced me of the benefits, like more fuel for my _Night Reaver_. And I realized war does not sound so bad after all."

"You are not against potentially dangerous fighting anymore?" Sangur asked.

"No, I'm breaking the habit tonight," Nox replied. "Let's take this once opportunity, see where it goes."

Sangur was observing as Nox pulled forth a mask from his pillows. The mark X skull mask (no one talks about the mark IX) was the newest and best such mask that Nox had crafted, vastly superior in material and designs to the cheap party masks Nox had used before. Nox looked energic. Sangur had rarely seen his companion quite like that.

"Did Cerin come up with the fuel thing?" Sangur asked, trying to make himself think despite the Adrenalin of excitement the news had brought him. He felt a bit strange, like something was bugging him about the fact, and he was using all the brain capacity he possessed in wording it. "He is just a young Neophyte, right? A youngling, and not especially clever one I think. How did he realize something like that… that you would want fuel? You don't find that suspicious?" Sangur said that, and was already losing the track of his own thoughts. He was not sure if it was suspicious or not anymore, and second by second he cared less.

"Hey, I need fuel, I have a cool freaking gunship and I want to keep it flying," Nox said, not caring about Sangur's words. He lifted his skull mask and began trying it on

"Weren't you… Weren't you against working with the Terrans. I thought you hated them and said they could not be trusted with anything. Are you not worried they will try to backstab us?"

"Nah, they are not clever enough for coming up with something that would actually threaten us," Came Nox's only slightly muffled noise from beyond the skull face. "Don't worry about them, all our cousin are fucking idiots…"

Nox handled the mask on his face, suddenly falling to his knees. His hands got increasingly swift. "Sangur…" he grunted with effort. "Sangur… help me. I forgot to put air holes into this thing!"

Sangur got up and moved to save Nox's ass yet again.

* * *

 **So I just got back from seeing the last Jedi. Pretty good movie, much better than Force Awakens if not without its flaws. A lot of surprises. Still can't believe they brought Jar Jar Binks back and made him force sensitive. The previous sentence was a trolly joke for those who have not yet seen the movie, I apologies insincerely.**

 **I guess will say Happy Holidays for everyone, if I don't manage to get a new chapter out before the big day.**

 **Leave a review if you feel like it, and have a nice day.**


	44. Chapter 43

**This chapter is a thousand words wordier than I intended. Pages really fly when I start infusing them with my ideas. And you guys like that don't you!? Don't you? Please nod. Thx.**

 **This Chapter has a lot of Weiss in it. I find her really hard to write, same with other Team RWBY members actually. It is just that depicting them is so hard when they come from animated medium, getting the right feeling and expressiveness is difficult with just words, but I try.**

 **This chapter has one of my favorite 40k quotes in the beginning, so enjoy.**

* * *

 **Chaos is the Prize Chapter 42**

 **" _Matter is a slave in whatever realm of being it occupies. In the world of the senses, it is constrained by the silent laws of space and time, logic and number. In the_ other world _, it is shackled to other immutable rigors: dreams, hopes, vicious desires. These things are the tenets of physics in that place. As our nightmares are but shadows in this world, banished by hard edged dawn of reason, order is but a shadow in that one._**

 ** _Which is the more real? Which endures, and which is doomed to destruction? You might say neither, for they are reflections of one another._**

 ** _This is false. You must choose. We learn this during seven years of blood and compelled maturity. You must choose. Deamons and mortals alike may have dignity. Only the vacillator, the equivocator, the cautious, only he, has no place in the heavens."_**

 **-Targutai Yesugei of the White Scars**

Weiss was not sure what to think of Cerin. She had not interacted with too many children while living back at Atlas, but she liked to think she liked children. When Cerin had first shown up, it had been sudden and unexpected, so she had just kinda gone with the flow. It had really pleased her pride that someone would think so highly of her as Cerin did.

She had ran into Cerin couple of more times after their first meeting, like the ridiculous pancake scene from the other day. Always he had seemed very happy to see her, and Weiss was not sure how to react. Sure she found the young child nice, but she did not particularly care for him, she hardly knew him, but Cerin seemed like he had really taken liking to Weiss.

So when Cerin had found her again and they had started to talk, Weiss had once again just gone with it. If Nox's little brother found her company appealing, she could humor him as long as he was staying at Beacon. It did not hurt to have someone around how did not low key insult her perfection all the time.

"So how was your life back there?" Cerin asked as he sat on a bench in the west corner of the school's yard, inquiring more now that Weiss had told him she was from Atlas. This was another thing she was not sure how to react to. Cerin was curious about her, he asked questions like he wanted to know more about her. Not even her teammates ever questioned her like this. Team RWBY had reached an understanding where they shared more about each other bit by bit, very rarely asking about each others life too deeply. It had been fine, since Blake did not like being too open about her White Fang past, and Weiss herself did not like discussing her family. Her teammates did not ask, and she did not tell. They waited for when she felt like opening more about herself.

Cerin did no such thing. He cut corners and asked questions relentlessly, like he had great hurry to learn as much about her as he could. There was not too much finesse and tact, but maybe one should not expect that from a child that age. Weiss had to say she found the feeling of someone so interested in her rather pleasant. It seemed like someone cared, something she had never gotten enough back home.

"It was… difficult at times," Weiss replied, searching for words that would allow her to convey her meaning in a way Cerin would understand. "There were a lot of rules, restrictions, expectations. And way too little things that I wanted for myself."

"Don't worry," Cerin said with a strangely understanding nods. "You are strong Weiss, I have seen that, and you will only get stronger. There will be a time when anything that you want for yourself will be yours for the taking…"

Weiss really did not know how to react to such words. The way Cerin said them almost disturbed her, like he was not quite understanding what Weiss meant. There was that sense of out of syncness that one sometimes felt when two people were not quite on the same wavelength, when one could not quite convey their thoughts well enough.

"It just… I never really received somethings from my family, somethings that I have found here, only truly discovering I wanted them after spending time in this academy. Things like… I don't know… some kind of… connection, relation, sharing. People who are my equal and care and respect what I think and want. It has really been a life changing experience so far."

"I… feel you might be meaning _brotherhood_ ," Cerin said with a searching tone, seemingly trying to wrap his young head around things.

Weiss actually let out a burst of giggle. "Brotherhood?" She asked with a smile.

Cerin looked down like he felt he had said something strange. "That is what it sounded like to me,"

"Well the term implies camaraderie between brother like individuals, so maybe… sisterhood-" Damn it felt strange saying that. A image of Ruby laughing her butt off popped very briefly in Weiss' mind. "-Might be more apt term, but I think you basically understood the core of the matter. I have… _friends_ here." Saying that out loud just now for the first time felt like a rally relieving moment for her. As the words left her lips, she realized they were true, only being forced to voice them making her truly acknowledge what she had only though somewhere back of her mind. _I have friends here._ Weiss felt like really smiling now.

"Sorry," Cerin said. "Where I come from we only have brothers and male cousins. And we… don't really have _friends_ , if I understand the term correctly. But I think I understand what you are saying."

Weiss turned to look at Cerin with some surprise. "You don't have friends?" she asked. _Maybe that is not actually such an impossibility, he is Nox's brother after all._

"No, I don't think I have." Cerins said with voice like he thought there was nothing wrong with that, and it pained Weiss to hear that from a child. She had had a very lonely and difficult childhood, but even she had understood having no friends was not normal.

"Well who do you spend your time with? Do you just stay with your family members all the time?" Weiss asked.

"I have a lot of cousins around, I do things with them," Cerin said, giving Weiss some relief. Maybe Cerin just did not consider them his friends because they were related. "But we fight a lot with each other as well, and we really don't get along as a whole. Most of the older cousins don't really care what we Neophytes do to each other."

"What is a Neophyte?" Weiss asked. She did not instantly connect the term with anything.

"I am a Neophyte," Cerin said. "That means I am not yet a mature Legionnaire, even if I survived the implantation, as I am only 9 years old. I become a proper Venatore only after I reach 15 years of age, when my seven years of initiation is over and my Aura is fully developed."

The question had only raised more questions. Weiss did not really understand what Cerin was talking anymore. He made it sound like he was from some kind of tribalistic clan or village that had some strange customs. Weiss had spend time around Nox and he had never seemed any more rural or wilderness grown guy than those of her classmates born inside the Kingdoms.

"What is a Venatore?" Weiss asked after a moment.

"It is what I will become," Cerin replied. "Like my brother, and Sangur, Orchid and Azuhrius. They are all mature Venatores." Suddenly Cerin looked like he catches his tongue, like he just realized what he had been revealing. "I… I don't think I was suppose to tell you all this… Don't tell anyone I told you Weiss."

"Eh? Well, I guess I can keep my mouth in check if that is what you want," Weiss said. It seemed like Cerin had revealed somethings that were maybe not meant for outsiders or something. "So you have a lot of cousins around," Weiss said, picking up something from earlier.

"Yes, a horde of depraved, freaky, barely controlled scoundrel cousins always at each other's throats. It is a constant struggle there I tell you," Cerin replied.

Wow, that sounded really different from Weiss' home, though she felt like there may have been some similarities when she thought about it. "Sounds like a wild place to grow up. I hope your parents manage with you."

Cerin looked really strangely at Weiss for a long moment. "Parents?" he finally asked.

Weiss frowned. "Yes. You mother and father. Or do you call them by some other names where you come from? The people who gave birth to you and raised you." Moments like these were difficult. Weiss sometimes forgot how young Cerin was, and he was even from another cultural background. They did not always understand each other. It really affected their communication every now and then.

"Mother?" Cerin replied after Weiss had elaborated, like the simple word was very alien to him. He struggled with it for a while, as if trying to remember something, before seemingly moving forward. "My father," he said." _The Primarch_."

Primarch? Well that certainly sounded like a masculine portion of parents, Weiss wondered if mother was called Matrarch or something wherever Cerin was from.

"Yes, father, _Primarch_ or whatever you call him," Weiss said.

"He is dead," Cerin said very bluntly, causing Weiss' mind to crash into a mental wall.

"Oh" Weiss processed the unexpected revelation for a moment, panicking very briefly that she might have wondered into some touchy matters for Cerin. "I am… sorry."

Cerin nodded with a slightly mournful expression. "I never knew him. He died long before I ever met him." Cerin lifted his face that held a sad expression. "He did not want to stay with us, his sons. Did not want to lead and suffer us anymore. He did not want to stay in this world either, the world that had brought him only pain and misery, so he chose to leave it and us behind. He… lost his way… in life, and in everything he did. Maybe... it is for the best he is gone. There was nothing left for him... nothing he truly cared about anyway... As much as me and my brothers miss him, I would not have kept him with us against his will."

All of Cerin's words were a lot to process for Weiss, and she could not find words to reply.

Cerin was the one who broke the silence. "What about your father? He is a mighty lord in Atlas, right?"

That instantly brought Weiss back on tracks, and she frowned very slightly. "My father…" she said. "My father is a man I have a difficult relationship with. It could be said all the problems of my childhood were caused by that man. He… he never was enough of a good father for me, let's just put it that way. He is a business man, and his work was more important to him than his daughter. He also took my family business into darker avenues, and has taken part in a lot of things I cannot approve. His care for his daughters and wife was never his priority." Weiss looked into the horizon with a sad smile. "Unlike your father who was never there for you, my father was always there, just not there for me..."

"I don't... understand," Cerin said slowly. "It sounds like you despise your father."

Weiss looked into Cerin's black eyes, and realized that maybe, on some lever, the child was right.

"How could you do that? Is he not your father, your progenitor? Why would you not follow him in everything he decrees, why would you not want to honor him and stand by his side?" Cerin spoke like such a thing was completely anathema to him. He spoke like someone who would have wanted nothing more than to meet his father, and could not comprehend why someone who had a living father would despise their parent.

"I guess I would have liked to be a daughter to him, if only he had been a father to me, and a good person overall." Weiss said, not feeling like going any deeper into it.

Cerin stood a long while thinking about Weiss' words, contemplating something with his small child's mind. Maybe Weiss had shoved too much onto the boy, told him about too much about real life problems and her family. She had been caught into the flow of things, and forgot to consider her conversation partner was only a small boy who probably was too young for all of it.

Before Weiss found a different, more lighter topic, Cerin spoke again, speaking hushed words with a hunched posture. "If… if your father is like that, then maybe you don't need him. Yes, yes, he is not a Primarch, he is just a man, just a little man, not great, not mighty, not worthy of you. Not a warrior, a man without even strong Aura, right? Why would you want to follow a man like that? That's it, that is just like it should be, why would you." Cerin lifted his his black eyes to Weiss. "If you don't feel like serving under him, if you have no sense of kinship with him, why should you not take over? You are strong Weiss, you are the heiress. You could do it. Maybe not today, maybe not tomorrow, but one day you are strong enough to cast your pitiful father aside, and take all that is his for yourself. Yes, you will be mighty then. A master… _mistress_ of many things, a lady in control of the Dust Company and much more. And that need not be the end of your rise, not the end of your path to glory. This world could be yours for the taking!"

Weiss looked at Cerin with wide eyes. All of it had come so suddenly and been so unexpected she was at a loss for words. She looked into those black eyes with her pale blue ones, trying to make sense what Cerin spoke of.

"I… I guess I always intended to clean my family name." She said, more because she felt like she had to say something than because she wanted to say it. She was the heiress, Cerin was right. She had planned on making her own name as a huntress, like Winter, but she was the heiress. She had pushed it out of her mind since coming to Beacon, and how easy and welcome it had been to push the matters of home aside. But now that Cerin said it, she was woken back to reality. She was the heiress, it could be her company one day.

Cerin stood up, standing on the bench next to Weiss and looking down onto her. "When the time of your rise comes, I want to be there to see it," he said with disturbingly wicked smile.

Weiss only looked at him. Damn, the members of Deimos family were some very strange people.

* * *

"Come again?" Azuhrius asked, turning around to face Nox, not quite believing what he was hearing.

"The attack you have planned." Nox repeated. "Me and Sangur want in on this thing," he said like it was the most simple matter in the world.

Azuhrius could only stare for a moment. "Has he gone mad?" in inquired from Sangur, completely serious.

The World Eater glanced at Nox and then back at Azuhrius. "Define _mad_ and _gone_ ," he asked.

"Since when has Nox not been batshit insane?" Orchid chirped. "Get it? _Bat~_."

"Since the day you lost your fucking marbles that have not been seen in a very long time and shut the fuck up now," Nox growled back.

"This is… unexpected." Azuhirius wondered out loud, still coming to terms with Nox's 180 degree turn when it comes to dealing with Terra. Many Legionaries were not the most… stable… individuals, and where prone to being mercurial and impulsive, making decisions with almost, well, chaotic tendency. But Nox had always seemed like a very clever, prudent, careful, and absolutely cowardly person. There was little sign of any warp caused mental effects, nor simply self originating insanity. For that reason, Azuhirus found the utter change of mind strange, very strange indeed. Perhaps he just did not know Nox as well as he thought he did.

"If you want to join our operation, to join forces, I believe that can be easily arranged. But can we trust you with out plans?"

Nox huffed. "Says the guy who's Legion number and personal emblem is literally a double cross."

Azuhrius simply nodded, conceding the point. It was not like he could stop Nox from joining even if he had wanted, not without permanently damaging the Beacon relations he had carefully been crafting and maintaining all these months. Nox would be useful, his and Sangur's talents would come in handy in the coming operation. Not like the Legions had afford to refuse any Legionnaire help, they were few in numbers already. "Fine. Do as you will. I will share the details of the operation with you letter. But for now, we need to find Cerin."

"Why?" Nox asked with a frown.

"Because I got a message that who ever Shrike send to pick him up will be here any moment," Azuhrius replied.

* * *

Cerin looked up to the lanky blond guy standing next to him on the landing platform of the Beacon cliffs, tilting his head slightly.

"And remember all that I have thought you, my lessons of wisdom will come handy if you want to become a good huntsman like me."

Cerin cocked his head even further. "Who are you?" He asked.

The blond boy looked at Cerin with bewildered expression. "I am Jaune. You remember me, right? And remember all I talked you about?"

 _Jaune?_ The name rang a very faint bell inside Cerin's head. "Oh yeah… were you, like, someone's slave or something? Of that redhead or that ginger girl with a hammer?"

"What? No!" Jaune exclaimed. "I am the leader of Team JNPR. You remember right? Pyrrha, Nora, Ren and me."

"I remember Ren," Cerin shrugged. One did not forget the name of one in possessions of the Pancake archeofood STC.

"How can you forget about me? After all we did!" Jaune still cried.

"When exactly did we meet, and what exactly did we do? It can't have been anything important since nobody, _nobody_ , remembers it happening," Cerin just grunted.

Jaune looked very down, like he had wanted to be some inspiring role model for someone or something and completely failed. Somebody should have been a role model for him. Cerin thought about it and decided to share some words of wisdom with the boy.

"Okay, listen here," Cerin said as he jumped up and grabbed hold of the front of Jaune's hood, hanging from the breastplate. He inched his face closer to Jaune and whispered. "You maybe the leader of your team, but Ren is your underling who owes you no loyalty of blood, kin nor respect, such thing would be impossible for someone like you. Inevitably, Ren will seek to overthrow you and take your place and your loot. He is planning your murder _constantly!_ Think about that when you sleep in the same room as him."

With his advice shared with the lesser warrior, Cerin jumped down and started walking toward others on the landing pad. Jaune just walked away with a puzzled look on his face. In addition to Team ASON, Weiss was there as well, of which Cerin was very pleased. Her teammate Ruby was also there, with a very small dog by her side that looked smart enough to be secretly running the academy. Cerin was keeping his narrowed eyes on the dog as he walked to the girl with snow white hair, causing her to turn to him.

"That Jaune over there is a good pawn for you," Cerin said. "Not even nearly too strong, not too smart. Lacking both the brains and courage to be a threat to you."

"I… see." Weiss said, and Cerin interpreted her expression that she understood the matter perfectly.

The two of them stood there silently for a long while, until a lone Bullhead appeared on the cloudy sky, heading towards them. Cerin turned to Weiss one last time. "I will be back to see you again, one day."

Weiss smiled at him. "I will make sure to have Pancakes waiting for you."

Cerin nodded. "I would come to see you even without the pancakes."

* * *

Azuhrius had wondered who Kiarana had managed to recruit/force into this totally ridiculous Neophyte retrieval mission, and when he saw the three Legionnaires stepping down from the Bullhead, he almost face palmed with despair. He had tried to arrange a meeting in some remote location of Vale, but his messages had received replies that stubbornly declared the reclaimers would be coming to Beacon. Now Azuhrius did not wonder why talking sense had fallen to deaf ears.

"How?" He asked with anguished voice. "Why? Why would Shrike send you guys?" had all the sensible options been unavailable, or where these simply the people who had not escaped the room fast enough when Kiarana had barged inside demanding volunteers. "I had hoped Tsagaan, or maybe Dunstan. Hell, even Slate or Vermilion would have been better. _Whyyyyyy?_ Why would they send you guys?!"

"Shut your whining," Flavius growled. "We are here now, that is what matters. Where is the small runt of a Neophyte?"

"This place looks much plainer than I expected," Grollo mused as he observed the buildings of the Academy. "I was expecting more from a place that supposedly trains warriors."

Azuhrius ignored the first two for a moment turned to the third Legionnaire behind the two, the only one even remotely sensible of the bunch. "Let me guess, you are here purely because these two needed help not getting lost or distracted on the way here?"

"Yes, very much something like that," Maroos sighed. "You would not be believe all we had to go through to get here. These two are impossible, I will never do this again."

"Why would you agree to something like this in the first place?" Azuhrius asked.

"As you yourself said, they needed someone along who knew how to read a map, or read properly for that matter. Someone to keep them on course and remind of the objective."

"And you probably also though this was a good opportunity for you to spread the _Word_ ," Nox put in, looking distastefully at the son of the XVIIth Legion. "Let me guess, that bag of yours is filled with copies of _Book of Lorgar_?"

Maroo's hand moved protectively to his shoulder hung bag. Nox and Azuhrius looked at the bag, and then back to Maroos. The Word Bearer was starting to tip toe away.

"Maroos, you don't _actually_ have a bag full of _Book of Lorgar copies_ with you, right?" Nox asked.

"Spread the Word!" Maroos cried as he was already sprinting away.

Azuhrius face palmed. "Well, let's get-" He turned to to the other Legionnaires, only to see Flavius and Orchid facing off, standing opposite of each other with a tensed posture that forbode violence. Azuhrius had a nasty flashback of the moment Orchid and Sangur had met for the first time in the Academy.

"I see you have managed to somehow cling to life, miserable wretch," Flavius barked at Orchid as his hand twiched near his sword on his belt. "I would have thought someone would have put down a pitiful rabid dog like you a long time ago."

"Many have tried, none have succeeded," Orchid purred back with widening pupils as combat stimulants started flowing in his system. His voice was getting more high pitched, and Azuhrius could pick up some small movements that suggested loosening of muscles in preparation to fight. "Would you like to give it a shot, brute of the brute god? I will cut you open an splay your crude and weak body on this platform for the Dark Prince to laugh at."

"Your skull will join the Skull Throne!" Flavius growled with losing composure, and his hand moved to the hilt of his black sword. Orchid smiled madly as he mirrored the moved with much more grace, starting to slide his sword from the back of his belt, slowly and mockingly.

The other Legionnaires took a step back, giving the two some room. Azuhrius' mind starts racing at the catastrophe brewing in front of him. Either Flavius or Orchid could very well kill the other right then and there, for all the world to see. He wondered if Smurfus had send Flavius particularly for something like this to happen, Azuhrius would not have put it past the Ultramarine to sacrifice his ally to mess things up for the infiltration. Azuhrius needed to stop this before things got out of hand and blood started flowing. He moved forward to intercept, but he did not manage to take more than one step before a shadow of great wings passed over all of them.

Faster than eye could see, both Orchid and Flavius were lifted up in the air, Flavius's brass helmet jumping way above his head. Like a lighting from a clear sky, the dark and winged form of Kiarana was suddenly standing on the platform holding Orchid by the throat in his right and Flavius in the left hand. In the next second he brought his hands together, bashing the skulls of the two younger Legionnaires together with teeth shaking force. There was a loud *bang*, and then the wwo warriors who had a moment ago been seconds away from attacking each other were dropped to fall onto the platform where they collapsed.

Kirana looked at both of them through the black eye lenses of his mask. " _Be nice,_ " he rasped as he looked around, causing the closest ones, Grollo and Sangur, to quickly step back.

Flavius' helmet fell down onto him from the air and both of the Legionnaires laying on the ground whined "Yes lord..."

Flavius's eyes fell on the small dog some distance away by Ruby. "Corgis are funny…" he muttered with a stunned voice.

"Lord Shrike?" Azuhrius asked with surprised tone, taking a cautious step back. "You are here?! Again?!"

"Yes." Kiarana said as he folded his black wings. "Somebody had to watch over the group send to retrieve the Neophyte."

"The one you brought here?" Azuhrius dead panned.

"Yes."

"The one _you_ flew all the way here by yourself?"

"Yes."

"And because of that you had to send someone pick him up?"

"Yes"

"And you thought you needed to watch over the retrieval party?"

"Quite so, and as it was just proven, it was good that I did."

Azuhrius face palmed hard. Somebody needed to let Kiarana out of everybody's misery.

"Since so many of us are here, do have a war meeting concerning the upcoming battle, since we have some new joiners," Kiarana looked at Nox and Sangur as he said that, somehow knowing of their decision to join the war effort. Or maybe he did not, and was simply making an _offer_ right here, one the two could possibly not refuse from, or else. "Bring everyone up to speed before the final meeting in Terra. Take the Neophyte with you when you leave, I will make my own way back when I so decide."

"Shhhhhhhhhh, not so loud~" Azuhrius hissed, glancing at Ruby and Weiss standing some distance away. "Sure we will do that, in some more private place, and figure out the travel plans and all the details."

Kiarana nodded and took a once over look at all the Venatores. " _Be nice_." Then he spread his wings and launcher into the sky, heading for the beacon tower. Azuhrius hoped he was not going to build a nest there.

"So, shall we go then," Azuhrius asked with a sigh, but Flavius was already moving towards Cerin.

The Imperial Fist raised his fist and brought it down and hit the Neophyte. Cerin recoiled from the violent punch and fell down onto the platform.

"You fucking brat," Flavius growled. "You just had to bother Shrike and make him bring you here, it is your fault all this trouble happened. I should break your weak neck right her and now."

"Hey! What did you do that for?!" came the sudden outraged cry of Weiss as she rushed forth and placed herself between Cerin and Flavius. "You can't just hit a anyone like that!"

Flavius looked at Weiss with dispassionate eyes, her words seemingly barely registering for him. He moved forward past her, totally dismissing Weiss like she was beneath his attention. He said something to Sangur and the two of them departed talking as they walked. It seemed the Blood God worshipers were in good terms already. Nox's eyes lingered in Weiss and Cerin for a while, before he followed Sangur.

"Hey Grollo," Orchid said behind Azuhrius.

"What do you want, whelp?" came the Wolf's agitated grunt of an reply.

"Remember that drinking contest we always talked about? It just so happens a this Kingdom has a lot of alcohol in easy supply."

"Say no more!" The two of them vanished very quickly on their own way.

Azuhrius was left almost alone, and he briefly checked on Weiss and Cerin before leaving the scene to make sure Maroos was not up to anything troublesome.

Weiss helped Cerin up, the Neophyte basicly unharmed by the punch he had taken. "I can't believe he would do something like that to you," Weiss spoke as he inspected Cerin. "What kind of family member does something like that?!"

"Many of my cousins are absolute bastards, "Cerin said as he looked up to her with his black eyes. "But this is my family," he said with a small but not weak voice. "I did not choose it, but it is mine. It is harsh and a _bit_ broken, yes. But it is good enough." Azuhrius saw Cerin glanced at the far away backs of all the Venatores. "Good enough."

Azuhrius wondered if the Neophyte said that just because his older cousin was still within earshot, or because he actually believed it.

* * *

 **I will try to make the Legionnaires leave for Terra in preparation for the coming battle in the next chapter.**

 **Still a bit early but happy new year for eve** **ryone.**

 **Leave a review if you feel like it and have a nice day.**


	45. Chapter 44

**Well. It seem this story has finally reached 100 followers. Thank you all you magnificent people. Though we would have reached this faster if it was not for those of you who just Favorited this story instead of Following. _You know who you are._** **Extra big thanks to those people who have bothered Reviewing this story of mine, you are the best.**

 **In this chapter the Venatores are finally leaving for Terra in preparation for the great operation to come. We will also visit Team TACO for a bit. You guys remember them right? Right? They are still a thing.**

* * *

 **Chaos is the Prize Chapter 44**

 **" _Traitors despise even those to whom they have rendered service"_**

 **-Tacitus**

"Azuhirus already informed me of the matter" Ozpin said as took a sip from is damned mug. Nox was not sure how the thing was filled, but it sure seemed to be always full whenever he saw Ozpin. Nox was watching that mug, watching it carefully. One could never tell what could be hidden under the surface of the most innocent looking of objects.

"I know," Nox replied where he was standing in attention, opposite to Ozpin with the table between them. The clockwork machinery clicked and klacked silently above them as the giant gears turned, performing some curious function that sure as hell was not time keeping.

"And you think I would deny you the request?" Ozpin asked. He said it so lightly, but Nox was not disillusioned by the power relations between them. Ozpin was in control, and Nox was the subservient one. No matter how informally easy Ozpin behaved towards him, Nox made sure not to step out of line, or get caught when he did.

"I thought it would be better if I went through with you personally," Noz said with considered words. "Just so you are up to speed what me and Sangur are up to, so that we might avoid unnecessary complications."

"I see. Well it is good that you would make sure I was informed, but Azuhrius filled me in quite sufficiently and I see no reason to deny you. As long as your trip does not stretch unreasonably, or any other complications arise, I am okay on my part." Ozpin looked at something on his desk absently, giving the impressions he had other things in mind than this seemingly innocent request for a leave from the academy. If only he knew. "I trust your team leader to keep things together, even when you are beyond my observation."

Nox could have almost burst with laughter had he heard something like that elsewhere. He half expected some finishing remark that would betray Ozpin's caution or suspicion, but nothing like that came. Nox stood there for a moment, waiting for a warning or reminder that never came as Ozpin directed his attention more and more away from him.

Nox sometimes wondered what was the deal with headmaster. Sometimes the tyrant of this school felt dangerously aware what was going on, like he fully was on top of things but choose not to interfere. Sometimes again he seemed completely unaware what was really going on, that he had plotting Venatores right under his nose and he did not realize it. Could Ozpin truly just not honestly see anything of Azuhrius' deception? Or was the headmaster tyrant playing some grater game that eluded Nox's detection? Nox hoped Ozpin was unaware of everything, but he also feared for the worst. He was afraid that the old man in fact did know more than he was letting on, and that fear helped Nox to keep himself in line. For now however Ozpin seemed content not to act upon any possible suspicions, and so Nox choose act like such suspicions did not exist.

"I will be going then," Nox simply said as he turned around.

"See you next week, have a nice trip." Ozpin said after him. "Try to get closer to your teammates. Occasions like these are good for building intrateam connections."

"I am sure they are…"Nox said without turning around.

* * *

"Holy shit, what happened here?" Sangur heard Nox ask as the Night Lord entered through the door of their dorm room. The whole place was smelling so strongly of alcohol and other less recognizable smells that were not any less repugnant.

"I think Orchid and Grollo indulged in crazy amount of drinking," Sangur said from where he was polishing his axe, kicking absently one of the empty bottles on the floor. "The whimp also took it all with his usual drugs, resulting in a hellish mix. I don't think he is getting up any time soon." Sangur nodded at the comatosed form of Orchid. He would have liked to kill the bastard, but he did not kill without a fight if he could help it.

"I though they went to Vale to drink themselves dead. What the hell is all this?" Nox asked.

"These are just the bottles they brought back with them," Snagur grunted.

Nox looked around. "Orchid is here. Where is Grollo, he can't be in much better shape?"

Sangur shrugged. "No idea. Passed out who knows where."

"If he does not wake up and emerge from somewhere before we leave for Terra, we are leaving him behind," Nox growled. He looked at the comatosed Orchid. "This kinda reminds me of the time Death Guard got all self destructive and poisoned the water supply of Terra. You remember that?"

Sangur scratched his head. He did not have a good memory. He did remember hazily the beating XIVth Legiones received for their stunt. "Partly at least," He said.

Nox continued. "Every other Legion had casualties because of the tainted water, except for the Children and the Wolves, because they had drank nothing but alcohol during the whole situation..." Nox wrinkled his nose. "Well I can't stay here, dark hell it smells in here... I am going to look for Cerin and then we will broke into a dorm room of some team and raid or something. Open that fucking window and inform me when this place is habitable again." Nox walked back to the door. "I can't understand how you can stay here."

Sangur looked him go. He could not tell the air was that thick with repugnant fumes. His sense of smell had been severely eroded by the Nails. Only in combat did all of his senses sharpen.

Sangur rose and moved to the window. He opened it, creating a way for fresh air. He stood there for a while, and then glanced at the body of Orchid. Might as well get rid of a major source, he thought. Sangur kneeled, picked up Orchid, turned to the window, and hurled the whimp out of it as hard as he could. So far he threw him that Sangur could not tell where he landed.

"So if there is no chances of pancakes, why are we pillaging their dorm room?" Cerin asked as he hung himself in from the window after his brother.

Nox took in the room of Team RWBY, making sure there was no one hiding under the bunk beds in ambush. After he was reasonably sure the area was clear, he started investigating the room with more detail. "Because it is very rare for them to be away like this so there is no sense wasting the opportunity to find out if they have any cool shit around here somewhere."

"Cool shit like what?" Cerin asked with instant interest.

"We will see when we find it," Nox replied. He beheld the room and wondered where he would hide the valuables if he was a little red riding hood. After thinking that he wondered what would it take to sic Grollo on Ruby's female grand progenitor. His eyes fell on a bookshelf under the window, and how some of the books were a bit scattered after use while some were neatly organized and in line. Almost too neatly, like someone had folded them away with extra care..

Nox hunched over the corner of the bookshelf, observing the backs of the prim and proper book casings. He used his talon to scratch his chin as he read the names of the works of literature. " _Collected_ _Documentaries of the Founding of the Huntsmen Academies"… "The Great Huntresses of the Last Century"... "Mythical Grimm and Where to Find Them - So You Can Kill Them!"... "The Achievements of Headmaster Ozpin"..._

Nox grabbed the last mentioned book. "This _has_ to be a diversion…" He turned the thick book in his hand, weighing it carefully. Then he opened it, and found out the pages were indeed a hollow secret stash. Nox smiled as he grabbed the small jar of cookies from inside the thick book. "Jackpot~"

"You found something?" Cerin asked from the other end of the bookase, where he was twisting book in his hands called " _Ninjas of Love III"._

Nox instantly grabbed the book and threw it out of the window. "Even _we_ are not depraved enough for this shit," he said as he nommed a cookie. He took another one from the jar and plucked it right into Cerin's mouth. "Here, have a cookie," Nox said like a true Night Lord.

They continued their search, going through the nooks and crannies of the room in search of anything worth stealing, omnomnom-ing Ruby's secret cookie stash in the process.

"There is not much here," Cerin said after a while as he was checking one of Yang's shoes for valuables. "It is likely they keep their weapons and all combat material in the security of the locker rooms. You must have known they would do that, yet you wanted to raid the room anyway."

Nox had meanwhile found an especially important armament of the enemy, one that could change the future of the Pancake War in favor of the Pancake Loyalists if it was allowed to remain in their grasp. Nox beheld the foul thing, observing it on his eye level. "No matter what we breed, we still are made of greed," he said as he stared at _the_ spoon that had caused him much misery in the past. "And did we not find those cookies? Was this not a success in every conceivable way? Eat them and be content with the prizes we have claimed." Nox turned to the open window and pulled his hand back. The hurled the spoon out as hard as he could, and the silvery utensil vanished from sight, hopefully never to be seen again.

"Also pudding," Nox said as he grabbed the said treats from where he had found the Spoon.

"I had a brother once who managed to steal pudding from somewhere in Vacuo. He was a great advocator for raids into the western Kingdom for their treats. We ignored him and told him to shut his mouth, because he was insane and would have gotten us killed." Nox said as he tossed the pudding into his pocket. "Looking back at it, maybe it was not such a fevered insane idea after all…"

"We could always make more of them…" Cerin said with a meaningful hiss. "More of _us_. So that we would not be so alone… We could raid any vault of tasty treats, and no one would be able to stand in our way. No cookie stash would be beyond our grasp, no pancake hideout beyond out hunger."

Nox smiled faintly. "If only we Venatores were not so good at getting ourselves and our Neophytes killed. If only we could just pump out new recruit and rebuild, and not kill our shithead cousins before we actually get anything done and become something greater." Nox sighed. "I say, raising Neophytes is so damn hard. You younglings die so easily. First the Apothecaries have to actually acquire viable recruits from somewhere, and then quarter of them goes and dies in the implantation process. Then one just has to hope the new Neophytes don't become neither insane beyond usefulness, or even worse, _Ultramarines!_ Don't even get started on the part where the survivors lose themselves with their new powers and impulses and start killing each other if the older ones don't keep them in check."

Nox glanced at Cerin as he started going through a drawer, tossing stuff over his shoulders. "How many of you cousins have you killed?" He asked.

Cerin looked like he was not sure if he should look proud or ashamed. "Two…"

"Nice~" Nox smirked. He dug deeper into the drawer, finding something again. "Ooh, Twinkies~"

* * *

The morning was warm and clear, one of the last beautiful summer days before the fall would slowly start creeping to take over. The sky was without a trace of cloud cover, and the wind was just right, only a soft pleasant caress against bare skin. It was perfect day for a picnic, and Team TACO, that was still a thing, would not waste it.

On the border of the forest on the far side of the Beacon academy, the four teammates of the said team had spread a colorful sheet over the warm grass and had opened a large basket of all sort of tasty foods. They sat in a circle around the basket, munching on sandwiches and fruits, and discussing all things school and personal life.

"I am going to miss this place when we graduate," Kiara heard Teale say as the girl looked at the Beacon towers and then the surrounding landscape. Kiara followed her team leader's gaze, understanding full well the feeling behind those words.

"We are not even past year one, I think it is far too early to talk about graduation," Oliver said as he ate his tuna sandwich.

"Yes." Aureolin said. "But one day we will. I would very much like to return to visit here every now and then when we have the change."

"Indeed," Kiara said with a hint of a smile. "We should aim to do it on regular basis, like maybe once a year if possible. I would like that. We could take our children with us and tell them this is where we became mighty huntsmen and huntresses."

Aureolin bit his tongue and spat out the piece of on apple he had just take a bit out of. He made very strange sounds because of it. " _Khroahmahohuuuu_ …. Our children?"

"If talking about graduation is too early, talking about children definitely is," Oliver remarked without batting an eye.

"I don't think it is ever too early to talk about our children, I have already made all sort of plans," Kiara revealed with a informing tone.

"You have made plans about all our possible future children?" Teale asked with a bashful laugh.

"Of course not, only mine and Aureolin's," Kiara replied.

"Wait, why only yours and mine?" Aureolin questioned hastily.

"Well obviously because they are one and the same thing," Kira said with a stoic voice.

A stunned silence fell. Kiara saw Teal looking back and forth between her two teammates, while Aureolin just stared with his jaw hanging by the ground. Even Oliver looked taken back.

"Our…. children?" Aureolin finally managed.

"Yes," Kiara confirmed.

"Like… your and mine?"

"Yes."

"But… eahahahaaaa… I have not… agreed… to anything or-"

"Shut up, our children will be adorable," Kiara said firmly as she took a sip from travel mug.

"Myahehaaeaaueeee," Aureolin whined as he sat down in defeat, eyes rolling with chaos of thoughts.

"That reminds me," Kiara said as he turned to Teale. "What about you and Azuhrius?"

"Say WHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAT?" Teale recoiled with a yelp.

"Don't you want to have his babies? If that is still so I think you should start making some work towards it, you gotta lay your claim early with these things."

"What what *chitterchitterchatter*" Teale said with a face the color of fire dust. "I- I- I- am making quite decent progress I think *muttermuttermutter*"

Kiara tilted her head as she beheld her needlesly bashful team leader. Then she turned her gaze to Oliver who jerked like he had just come under target.

Oliver looked around as if looking for something. "Oh, is that Orchid over there?"

"YES, anything else, let's pay attention to it!" Teale yelped instantly.

Kiara followed Oliver's gaze into the forest and indeed found a quite vibrant batch of white and purple amids the green grass, laying in the shadow of nearby tree.

"Oh look, it is him," Aureolin said with strange eagerness. "Let's go check him out."

Team Taco rose from the picnic sheet.

"Was Azuhrius not looking for him yesterday and this morning?" Oliver asked.

"Yes, he was, Teale confirmed. Azuhrius had contacted her and asked if she had seen Orchid, and if found to return him to Team ASON. "It sounded like he was missing or something."

They rounded upon the passed out form of Orchid that looked like he had been laying here quite a while. His eyes were closed and he was covered in some leaves that had fallen on him from the tree or thrown by the wind.

"You don't think he has spend the night here, do you," Aureolin asked.

"I would not put it past him." Oliver said. "Should we try to wake him up?"

"I guess we have to. Azuhrius was looking for him," Teale said as he crouched and shook Orchid's shoulder. "Eh, Orchiiid? Wake up please."

The white haired boy twiched but his eyes did not open. He moved around like he was wake but still not fully conscious. He gurgled something incoherent before finally muttering something understandable. "I _thirst…_ "

Teale tried shaking him some more, but to no avail. "Maybe he is dehydrated," Kiara said as he observed Orchid. "If he has been he all night he should be very thirsty."

Teale nodded and ran back to the picnic basket. She poured water into a plastic mug and returned. She helped Orchic into sitting posture and brought the bug to his lips. One of Orchid's eyes twitched almost open as he opened his mouth to accept the liquid offered to him. He drank half of it before jumping up like electrocuted and spitting his mouth clear.

"HOLY PRINCE! What the hell did you just try to pour into me?! I have never drank anything so foul!" he coughed. Kiara noted how he seemed to have instantly recovered from whatever state he had been when they found him.

"What? Eh, just... water?" Teale said with surprise.

"Unspiked, unenhanced water?!" Orchid cried.

"Well, yes..."

"Dear Empyrean…" Orchid said as he shook like he was in danger of fainting. "I never thought it would be so terrible… I need to fix this unbalance in my body…" Then he just wondered away into the direction of the Beacon tower. Kiara alongside her teammates just stared after him until he vanished from sight.

"Well, that was weird…" Aureolin said.

"Let's get back to eating," Oliver said as he started heading back to the picking basket with a hungry look in his eyes. Teale was not far behind the two boys.

Kiara was just about to follow, when she spotted something shiny on the ground. She walked towards it, crouched, and picked up a silvery utensil. "Hmm? _A spoon_ ," she observed.

* * *

"Are we all packed?"

Sangur turned to Azuhrius and lifted his axes. "Yes, I have all that I need."

Azuhrius nodded as he closed a bag of his laying on his bed. Unlike Azuhrius, Sangur had not seen necessary to bring anything else along other than his wargear. Nox was not taking much more, though he was in charge of securing travel sustancence for both of them.

"Orchid?" Azuhrius asked, causing Sangur's to turn to the whimp sitting idly on the floor. Azuhrius had found him a while ago after Sangur had tossed the trash out yesterday. Shame, he would not have minded Orchic staying missing for a while longer.

"Is something wrong?" Azuhrius asked.

Orchid looked up with a frail gaze. "I blew all my drugs when drinking with Grollo…" He whined. "I did not follow the regulation and just took everything at once along the booze. It was awesome… but now I am dry. I am starting to develop symptoms, I feel so empty... I was also made drink _water_ by TACO, so that did not help"

"You did not do anything to them, right?" Azuhrius asked with a hint of worry.

"No, I didn't to anything to them," Orhcid said with a twitching hand wave. "It is not Thursday. Thursday is the day one should consume the TACO…"

" _Tuesday_ …" Sangur growled angrily. The two glared daggers at each other for a passing moment.

"Today made me realize that water is bad for a man," Orchid declared. "Water is nothing but a painkiller for the soul that removes the pain but does not cure the causes. If you can't handle your life without water, the fault is in life, not in the lack of water…"

Sangur through the whimp's words would have made way more generally sense if the word "water" was replaced by "narcotics".

"I will arrange more drugs for you when we get to Terra, so let us be on our way," Azuhrius said.

"I can't… I am so empty… so weak…." Orchid whined. For once Sangur agreed with him. "We are such miserable creatures…" Orchid said with a pained (painless?) voice, a single tear running down his cheek. "We are so worthless and insignificant... We will never grow... we will never be rewarded... And we will be like this for the rest of our lives…"

Azuhrius moved to Orchid's side, wrapped his right hand around Orchid's waist and lifted him up over his shoulder. "Not only drug shortage, but untempered water as well, by the Gods…" he muttered. Azuhrius moved to the door, a bag in the other hand and the other hooked up to carry slack Orchid. "So, we going?"

"We are not coming with you," Nox informed from the other side of the room.

Azuhrius turned around with surprised look. "You are not?"

"No," Nox replied. "Me and Sangur have our own method of transport to get us over to Terra. We will not be traveling with the rest of you, so you go your way and we will meet you there. Oh, and tell Shrike Cerin is also traveling with us."

Azuhrius kept his eyes locked with Nox for a long while. "How will you travel?"

"That is not your concern," Nox replied dismissively. "All you need to know is that we will be in Terra. Now be on your way if you are going."

Azuhrius observed Nox for a long while before adjusting his hold of Orchid and marched out of the room, heading out to meet up with the rest of the Venatores currently in Vale. Orchid mumbled something incoherent about water and babies before being carried off.

The words brought to Sangur's mind the scene from a long while back, and he realized he had never found out how babies are made, the still did not know how it worked. But then he decided maybe he did not need such knowledge. Knowledge only increased pain, and increasing pain was Slaaneshi faggotry.

* * *

Kiarana had come to meet them when they had made their way to the gunship. Sangur had just reached the opening of the forest where the aircraft was landed, and suddenly Kiarana had just dropped from the sky. Scared the hell out of Nox he did.

After explaining/pleading how Nox, Cerin and Sangur would use the aircraft to travel to Terra, Kiarana accepted Nox's plan and was getting ready to leave as soon as he ahd appeared. Nox even offered Kiarana a seat in the gunship in his rambling, but the Raven guard champion refused and said he would fly back himself. Apparently Kiarana did not like traveling in flying vehicles.

"If we had been meant to fly, we would have wings," Kiarana had said as he eyed the gunship with disdain, and then he was gone.

Nox entered the cockpit of _Night Reaver_ and closed the hatch behind him, leaving Sangur and Cerin alone in the cargo bay of the stolen Atlesian gunship. The two of them took seats on top of the crates on board the ship, and got as comfortable as possible as the landing ramp was redacted and the back hatch was shut. The engine of the aircraft started humming and soon Sangur could feel them taking off into the air.

Sangur stared at the Neophyte sitting opposite to him. The pale thing was crafting himself some sort of nest like resting area out of tarps and blankets he had found from some crate. When Cerin was done, he settled down onto the product of his work and started staring back at Sangur.

"What?" Cerin asked after a long while with neither of them saying anything, the only sound being the working of the gunship's engine.

"I am thinking," Sangur replied.

"I see. Based on your face it must be quite hard for you. Is it always so laborious?" Cerin said as he observed Sangur's face.

"I guess," Sangur grunted.

There was another long moment of silence.

"So what were you thinking about?"

Sangur tilted his head slightly, trying to ease the small spasming of his left eyelid. "This thing we are doing. Terra. Our cousins. The Bloodshed to come…" He trailed off for a second with the last one. The Nails eased just a tiny bit when his mind drifted to battle. Sangur pulled his thoughts together again. "How all this came to be. How me and Nox ended up joining you."

Sangur leaned backwards, hitting his head against the fuselage of the aircraft needlessly hard. "I never wanted to leave Terra. Nox was the one who wanted. And I did not care where we were, so I just followed him. He hated being there, and so we left. And now he is flying us back there out of his own free will. Do you know _why_?"

Cerin shook his head.

"It was not because he wanted to wage war with the other Legions," Sangur continued, working hard to put the words together. "It is not because he wanted to make the Kingdom's bleed even just a little. It is not because of the spoils, be it weapons, fuel or whatever. It is not even because he suddenly found some need for fear and violence inside of him, no." Sangur looked around the storage bay of the gunship, his eyes wandering aimlessly. "No, not him. He does not thirst, like me and Orchid, nor does he hunger like Azuhrius..."

Sangur fixed his eyes on Cerin again. "No. It is because you, his brother, asked him. That is all there is to it."

"You think so?" Cerin asked.

"Yes." Sangur grunted. "I know Nox. I am the only one left who knows him. And I say he is doing this because you are his brother. All other things are secondary." Sangur closed his eyes for an extended moment. There was no darkness when he shut his eyes. Only shadowy red mist. "He is like that."

Cerin tilted his head, observing Sangur deeply with the deep black eyes of his bloodline. "Would he have done it if you had asked him?"

Sangur frowned, pondering the question for a while. "No. I don't think he would have. But I would never have asked that of him either. I let him make the decisions, and it usually works out for us. It is a good system we have." Sangur took a deep calming breath. "Yes, it is a good system we have. He keeps us alive, as he has always done, and I can never truly repay him for that and everything else."

Sangur looked at the closed hatch to the cockpit. "He knows all my flaws, and he suffers them to remain. And that is the heart of his comradeship..."

* * *

 **Since we are going to Terra next and all the Legionaries will be together in one place for the first time in this story, expects a lot of Venatore interactions from the next chapters. And squabbling. The planning of the war will be interesting.**

 **oh, almost forgot, Lord Caedus has been** **pumping out some Chaos is the Prize video tributes on his youtube channel for most of my Legionaries so go and check. Especially the one about Kirana Shrike, that twas requested by me and I picked the song and some of the images.**

 **Also while I was working with this chapter, the V5 of RWBY ended. Now it is dark age of Hiatus for us again.**

 **Leave a review if you feel like it and have a good day.**


	46. Chapter 45

**This is one of those rare chapter's where it is all one huge POV. It all flowed really nicely, one of the reasons this one did not take that long to come out.**

* * *

 **Chaos is the Prize Chapter 45**

 _ **"There are only two forces that unite men - fear and interest."**_

 **-Napoleon Bonaparte**

 _ **"Are you afraid? Good. You're in the great game now. And the great game is terrifying. The only people who aren't afraid of failure are madmen like your father."**_

 **-Tyrion Lannister**

 _ **"With victory over others, we conquer. But with victories over ourselves, we are exalted. There must always be contest, and you must always win."**_

 **-Kor Phaeron of the Word Bearers**

The Legionnaires called it the strategium. Nox was quite sure that if any outsider heard of it, they would have exclaimed: _You people have strategies?!_ Before the Legionnaires murdered the person in question for knowing too much (and asking stupid questions).

It had once been some sort of meeting room of little noteworthiness, but ever since the Legionnaires claimed the catacombs of the palace, the room had been shaped to better fit the needs of a war planning room. There was a huge table made of stone at the center of the room, divided with surprisingly fine carvings into twenty sectors, one for each geneline of the Legiones Venatores. There were multiple chairs of less grand nature as the table at the ends of the sectors, each Legion using the best they could get their hands on as their seats. There had been bloody conflicts fought over some of the best chairs that were in constant circulation as they were stolen and stolen again by one Legion or another.

The was only so much room by the circular table, each sector holding space for handful of representatives, so the walls of the circular sanctum were lined with amphitheatre-like rows of additional stone carved seats for onlookers. The rows were completely empty, since all of the mature living Legionnaires could fit by the central table just fine with plenty of room to spare, and so the empty audience was merely a haunting background.

There was one more object of significance in the room. By the south wall, in the direction between the sectors of Ist and XXth Legions, was a large metallic throne on a raised dais. It was without competition the most grandiose seat in all of Terra's catacombs. Nobody was sitting on the thing. Nobody dared to. The significance of a such a throne was not lost to anyone, and as such if anybody dared to sit on it, they would quickly attract a forceful response from other Legionnaires. Sitting on the throne required power, and as such only the unrivaled strongest living Legionnaire could have sat on it without immediately being attacked by bitter and bloodthirsty cousins.

Out of all of the Legionnaires in the room, only Kiarana could have sat down on it and lived, but he choose not to, and had never sat on it despite it being in his power to claim. Kiarana simply did not care for the throne, choosing to be content with his Legion's part of the central table (though his seat was still the second best one around).

Nox could see the way all Legionnaires looked at the throne. Some showed only a hint of interest towards it. Some hungrily looked at it like they imagined themselves sitting on it. Nox wondered when Kiarana would inevitable die one day, one way or another, would the throne see more sitting after the raven's demise.

Nox sat by the table at the end of a sector decorated with a carved VIIIth numeral. His seat was only a large chunk of stone tortured into a rough shape of a chair. By his side, Cerin sat on a similar seat, and was the only Neophyte present. The two of them actually had one of the betters seats. Since the two of them and Sangur had arrived via gunship, they had been in Terra far earlier than Azuhrius and other Legionnaires who had to travel slower ways from Vale, and as such they had managed to steal some of the better chairs from other Legions.

One Nox's right, on a seat of the next sector, the hulking form of Flavius was eyeing him with uncloaked disdain, and the Fist of the VIIth Legion was letting out angry grunts every now and then.

Beyond Flavius was Grollo of the VIth, leaning against the table and observing other Legionaires with a look of boredom and grumpiness. He used his axe every now and then to clean his nails or pick his teeth.

After Grollo was the sector of the Vth Legion, and Tsagaan sat there on one of the poorer seats that was pretty much just a large wood log. Despite the his seating Tsagaan seemed very calm and collected, portraying less hostility than pretty much anybody else on the table. He had even greeted Nox with a barest of nods when he had arrived, which was more than anybody else had given.

After Tsagaan there was an sector that was not currently occupied by anyone, for IVth legion had no mature Legionnaires alive to take part in the meeting. Beyond the empty sector was Orchid, who was busy with filling himself with drugs after his shortage and was not paying much attention.

The sector of the IInd Legion was empty as well, but the seat of the Ist was occupied by the black armored form of Dunstan, who had completely ignored Nox so far.

On Nox's left side, the position of the XIth Legion was empty, which perfectly suited Nox since he could sit just a bit further away from the mad Fist on his right side.

The seat of the Xth Legion was held by Fionn, who apparently had just recently dug himself out of the ruins and returned to the rest of the Legionnaires. The iron armed Iron Hand sat implacably on a seat that looked like a piston of a large machine, sternly waiting for the meeting to begin with emotionless eyes.

XIth Legion was gone, so their position was naturally empty, and was actually the only one of the sectors without even chairs of any kind. Sometimes someone moved a seat there as a due to the dead, but that was always followed by someone else stealing it for leg resting. Nox cursed himself for only thinking about it after the meeting had begun, his metallic legs could have used some rest.

Sangur was sitting by the sector of the XIIth Legion, impatiently twitching and grunting almost constantly. He was there more to cover for Nox than to take part in the war planning. He had always been a more _practical_ type after all.

In the XIIIth sector behind Sangur was Smurfus, who was quite similarly to Nox made some distance to the World Eater, making sure there was more than chainaxe's length of space between them at all times. Smurfus looked composed and confident, and was seemingly eager to get the meeting started, probably to hear his own voice that he loved so much.

Rustus was the only one of the Legionnaires present that choose to stand instead of sitting at the seat of the XIVth. His giant maul was standing firmly in his grasp, ready to be used at the moment's notice. Nox noted how Rustus was keeping an eye on Sangur, ready to step into Smurfus' defence.

XVth Legion was gone and forgotten, their sector permanently empty. XVIth was likewise without representative, but the next one had two Legionnaires.

Maroos and Vermilion were sitting side by side on two chairs, Maroos calmly beholding the other occupants of the room while Vermilion glared, ever keeping his icon tall by his side.

XVIIIth Legion had no Legionnaires present. XIXth sector seat was taken by Kiarana, who laid in his nice chair with relaxed posture, like the meeting was just obligation to him and nothing more. Nox actually considered the old raven might be sleeping, there was no telling because of the mask.

Last sector, the XXth, was another one with two Legionnaires. Azuhrius and Ceruleon sat side by side, almost perfect mirror images of one another in appearance. Azuhrius was leaning against the table with his elbows, hands joined together before his face. Ceruleon was observing the table, seemingly constantly shifting person of interests as if looking for signs of something.

Almost all the mature Legionnaires alive where in that room that day, gathered to plan a common war. Nox never though he would have numbered himself among them.

"Can you smell the fear…" Nox asked with a silent voice that only Cerin could hear.

The Neophyte looked strangely at Nox. "No. Whose?" It seemed like Cerin could not sense it.

"Everyone's..." Nox whispered.

The atmosphere held fear, Nox could sense it even if he could not read individual Legionnaires. He could maybe guess what kind of fear some legionnaires were hiding inside of them, but he could actually sense only the vague feeling hanging above the table. It was not fear of death, nor even fear of what came after demise for those who had sullied their hands with the touch of Ruin. That fear existed, but it was not explicitly present in the room at the moment. No, it was fear of _failure_. Failure that might follow this attack should the war not go in the favor of the Legions. If they would fail to achieve their ambitions, if they would fail in the eyes of the Gods. This was an unique opportunity for most of them, an opportunity that might not come again in their lifetime should they fuck it up. If they did not succeed in achieving anything, they would all have to come back here to rot in these dark halls, waiting to be taken by the Warp. That fear offered great motivation and spirit of cooperation.

The room stood in silence for a long while after everyone had sat down. There was tension and soon many of the Legionnaires started casting glances. It was very particular kind of tension. Tension that could only exist in a room filled with people who would one day almost certainly kill each other, one way or another. They were all killers there, and almost all of them already had plenty of blood of their cousins in their hands. There were people in that room who had killed their kin, and they would do it again, it was inevitable. Such was the reality of Terra and the nature of the Great Game. There were Legionaries sitting in variety of seats here, sharing a table right now with a Venatore that would one day kill them. Only thing that was up to the fate was who killed who, and how, and when. Maybe they would all live for another year, by some miracle. Maybe they would all live to see the war of near future they had gathered to plan. Maybe someone's blood would be spilled tomorrow. Maybe. Maybe. Maybe.

"Should we begin?" Tsagaan was the one who dared to speak first.

Kiarana twitched as if his demented mind had suddenly remembered he was suppose to declare the start of the meeting as the oldest member. "Oh yeah… well, begin I guess." With those words he sunk back into the chair, leaving the strategium to the Legionnaires who were actually interested in the coming war.

"Right then, we are in session," Maroos said. "Now, where should we begin?"

"How about we start from why these two are here!" Flavius growled as he stood up and pointed at Nox and Sangur. "Are we actually allowing them to just join us after abandoning Terra? I can accept the World Eater, but we should slaughter the VIIIth Legion bastard for his treachery and then continue with this meeting."

Nox raised an eyebrow at Flavius. "Sangur, I think he might be calling us _traitors_..."

Ceruleon actually let out a chuckle, and some others smiled faintly.

"I agree with Flavius for once, we should kill this bastard and be done with it," Vermilion said with a snarl.

Nox turned to look at the Word Bearer runt on the other end of the table. "I sacrifice my precious time to join you in your operations and that is how you greet me?" Nox replied.

Vermilion just glared with murder in his eyes. "Last time we met, you were trying to slit my throat in my sleep!"

"This is why I hate dealing with the XVIIth!" Nox declared while motioning with his hands in a mockingly grand gesture. "They can't let bygones be bygones and always bring up and pick on all kinds of small matters of the past!"

"I thought we had already gotten past this matter," Azuhrius sighed.

"Agreed, let's move on to things that actually matter," Dunstan said.

"The VIIIth Legion stands with us," came to voice of Kiarana, and that was the thing that settles it. Flavius was still muttering angrily but he sat down with submission.

"We need all the manpower we can get. Nox and his stealth and reaving skills will be of use in our endeavor," Azuhrius said. "A knife in the dark is worth a hundred blades in daylight."

"What?" Flavius asked with a grunt.

"That was one of those metaphor things. I will explain it in a way even you can understand after this meeting," Ceruleon replied with a mocking grin to the Fist.

Flavius stood and let out an angry roar, bringing his sword up. That was about as far as he got. There was a sharp snap and Flavius was thrown back from the table and smashed into the stone seating circling the walls of the room. All the eye looked at the downed form of Flavius picking himself up and then at Kiarana at the other end of the table.

" _No fighting in the war room..."_ the raven rasped before relaxing back into his chair.

Flavius crawled his way back to his seat and sat down silently.

"If you are all done messing around, maybe we can get on with this?" Grollo said with a impatient huff. "I thought we came here to talk war?"

"Yes, let's get into it" Nox agreed. "So, tell me, what is this grand target you have chosen?"

Azuhrius picked up his scroll and threw it onto the table. There was some kind of small projection device attached to it, and it cast a hololithic image into the air above. Nox observed a bulky structure of roughly hourglass shape, sorting numerous details that were hard to make out since the visual was not too big. There were sprouting bridges of sorts coming from the thin part of the hourglass shape, and those bridges were connected to two large narrow objects Nox realized were docked Atlesian airships. There was a third such a vessel flying around the structure, drifting across the projected image.

"The Atlesians call it _Aegis_ ," Azuhrius began as he motioned at the picture. "It is a flying military installation located above the northern sea roughly halfway between Atlast and Mistral. It is one of two such structures in existence, its sister station _Pallas_ is located on the opposite side of the northern continent. Thye work as headquarters, garrisons and resupply stations for Atlesian military and navy. If anyone of you has seen pictures of the _Amity Colosseum_ , you can see the similarity. The technology is the same, applied by Atlas for military use. The superstructure is not even nearly as dense and heavy as the Colosseum, it is more like a metal balloon shell holding inside a web of military facilities. I have most of the exact technical details right here for our use."

Nox could indeed see the likeness. Based on the size comparison from the airships, _Aegis_ was like two smaller _Amity Colosseums_ linked from their narrow bottoms to make a hourglass tower.

"You seem to know a lot about it," Maroos noted as he beheld the imagine.

"Of course. We have investigated this for a long while now," Ceruleon said.

"How did you even get all this information?" Dunstan asked as he leaned in to look at Azuhrius' scroll.

"That is a trade secret of the XXth Legion," Ceruleon smiled.

"Meaning you looked it up from the scrollnet?" Smurfus asked.

"Well….. yes," Ceruleon admitted as he cast his eyes down.

"It is wonderous what you can find from the scrollnet. The Kingdoms are practically offering valuable info about themselves to us that we can use for our gains," Azuhrius mused. "Stagnation brought by peace."

"We are seriously going to attack that?" Nox asked as he pointed at the image of the floating fortress.

"That is the plan," Smurfus confirmed.

"So, wait, what kind of opposition are we expecting?" Nox demanded.

"Full garrison," Dunstan replied. "At least a company, between 150 and 250 Atlesian fire warriors, and another hundred or so support personnel and station crew. The drones are much harder to estimate."

"Make a fucking guess then ," Nox said, looking around for someone to give him the numbers.

Azuhrius tapped his fingers against the table. "Our best estimation based on station's size and structure, we would say anywhere between 3000 and 6000 drone units are stored on board the station."

"Well shit, that is a lot," Nox commented. He quickly compared the numbers in his mind, it was not hard. "It sounds a lot like there is few of us, and a serious fuckton of them. Somebody remind me again how this is not complete suicide attack."

"They are just drones," Grollow grunted. "No match for true flesh and blood Legionnaires."

"Flesh is weak," Fionn said with half interest. "The weak will be purged. Only strength remains..."

"I could take on such a army of drones any day of the week," Flavius swaggered.

"Really?" Ceruleon said with a cheap tone. "In that case there is nothing to worry about. We will just drop you there before the rest of us and watch as you get swarmed and stomped to death by a hundred killing machines."

Flavius glared at Ceruleon. "Are you doubting the might of the Blood God and his champions?"

"Not at all. I am simply pointing out the unbeatable wall of guns you and your Blood God have to solve."

"We have handful of Legionnaires," Smurfus interrupted. "Frontal engagement and conventional even footed combat is not an option."

"Please tell me somebody recorded that," Ceruleon laughed. Fionn showed a metallic thumb up.

"Of course we cannot win them in a fair fight, they would shoot us to hell," Nox continued. "So what is the plan that allows us to bridge the gap? I don't think any sort of strategizing is going to bring us a victory against thousands of killer bots."

"Yes, you are quite correct," Azuhrius agreed. "With simply these resources we have, and what the enemy has, there is no realistic plausible way for us to achieve our goals."

"Are you expecting me to ask what the catch is? Fucking spit it out and don't hold dramatic pauses!" Nox exclaimed.

Azuhrius looked just a tiny bit of bummed, but he continued without greater theatrics. "There is one factor in the equation of this war that will bring us our keys to victory. A factor that is best possible weapon against an enemy: _another_ enemy. A third party. An enemy of our enemy."

Sangur looked confused. "I have no idea what he just said. I heard war and enemy but the rest is a bit fuzzy."

Grollo huffed. "The enemy of my enemy dies second."

"But for now, enemy of our enemy is useful," Azuhrius smiled.

Nox looked at Azuhrius. Now it was starting to make sense why the Legionaries of Terra suddenly felt like they could threaten the greatest military on the planet. "Ah, now I see it. You don't even have to tell me. The events of these past months make it obvious. You are talking about the White Fang."

Some of the Legionnaires spat on to the floor at the mention of the Faunus supremacy organization.

"Yes," Azuhrius replied. "We have received information that White Fang and their allies are going to attack this very military installation in the very near future. When they strike, we will be there to take advantage of the chaos and take our prize."

"I see." Nox said, before frowning. "Wait, received information? Where is this information from? How come someone like us has heard of such an attack, and the intelligence of the Kingdoms has not? What is our source?"

"The holy Empyrean," Maroos replied, causing Nox instantly get worried and cautious. "I have received visions from the Powers about the future. They support us, their chosen warriors. They have granted us this chance to prove ourselves, and so we shall. The will of the Gods be done."

"Are you sure you just did not hit your head really hard and have daydreams?" Nox snarled. "Because if I know anything, it is that trusting future visions and acting according to the messages of the Gods is foolishness without compare."

"These signs of the Gods are of most utmost reliability, I assure you," Maroos said with a calm voice of a true believer.

"Don't you wretched unbeliever dare to doubt the visions of the Dark Gods!" Vermilion spat to Nox.

Nox sighed. "Does he always say stupid shit like that?" he asked.

"Only when he opens his mouth," Ceruleon shrugged.

"Yeah, shut the fuck up Vermilion, nobody cares about you," Grollo barked.

"The signs of the Gods are kinda like Mistralian music, they can be interpreted in great many ways," came a surprising comment from Orchid.

"No. The signs of the Gods are kinda like music from Vacuo," Nox grunted back. "Best left uninterpreted."

It was at that moment the door of the strategium opened, and a female slave pushed a battered cart into the room. A unresistable smell of cooked meat filled Nox's nostrils, and like everyone else in the room he turned towards the slave.

"The dinner is ready," Siena chimed out, and most of the Legionnaires jumped from their seats.

"Meat is back on the menu, boys!" Grollo yelled as he went.

"Where the hell did you get all this?" Nox asked as he observed the food in the cart. It was not something those in Terra had easy access to.

"We raided a random store on our way from Vale." Maroos explained. "It would have been a waste to let the chance slide."

"Another glorious victory." Flavius said.

"Is that why it took you guys almost two weeks to get here?" Nox asked.

"At least it did not take six to eight months," Azuhrius shrugged.

"Why is there only this much of it?" Smurfus asked as he grabbed a large cup. "I thought you brought at least a quarter more of this stuff?"

"Slate took his portion before he left," Siena explained. "And left all his vegetables. Again."

"Oh yeah, where is Slate," Nox asked. "Why is he not here?"

"Somebody has to watch over Laguna," Tasgaan replied. "Otherwise we all starve to death. Slate will be joining us for the offensive. Shrike has promised to stay back to guard Laguna while we are gone."

The Legionnaires emptied the cart from meat and returned to the table to gorge on the food. A warrior fought with his stomach after all. Fuck fish jerky.

"Damn, this is really good," Ceruleon said as he licked his lips. "Hey Smurfus! Have you already tried this super well roasted Calth- _I mean_ _calf_."

Smurfus shot him a murderous look.

There were couple of chuckles, and Vermilion started coughing loudly on his food.

Nox looked at the Word Bearer. "Did somebody poison Vermilion's food? Nice move!" Unfortunately the Legionnaire of the XVIIth had simply swallowed wrong and lived to prey another day.

The Venatores feasted for a while, cursed one another some more, and then got back to the business at hand.

"So the White Fang is going to provide diversion for our attack," Rustus rasped after everybody was more or less done with their food. "What is the attack plan?"

"We are going to divide ourselves into squads," Azuhrius said. "We will discuss the details and objectives later, but overall we are going to have one heavy engagement squad and couple of objective focussed squads. Nox and Cerin will act as an additional independent disruption and harassment unit. That suits you, I take?"

"Sounds good, carry one." Nox continued. This was as he would have wanted it to be. If things went to hell, he would have good chances to cut his losses and run. Nox leaned towards Cerin, whispering so that only his brother could hear. "Number one rule of fighting: When you're done, you gotta be the the first to run."

Cerin chuckled silently. "Take what you want, and Warp take the rest," he replied with a hush.

"The heavy engagement squad will be consisting of Flavius, Sangur, Grollo, Orchid and Slate," Azuhrius went on. "They will use the initial shock and element of surprise to engage the enemy and push them back as long as their momentum lasts, buying time for the rest of us. Needless to say most of the fighting and glory will be theirs," Azuhrius said, making it sound with the last remark like they were not throwing the squad again enemy as pseudo meatshields. Nox would have to look after Sangur, there was a very real chance that the heavy engagement squad would just be sacrifice against the enemy.

"Heavy engagement squad?" Flavius asked. "That is a really boring name."

"Yeah, can't we call it Devourer Squad or something?" Sangur suggested.

"I second this," Grollo agreed.

"Fine, Devourer squad it is, however you like." Smurfus said. "The second squad will be me, Rustus, Dunstan, Maroos and Vermilion. Our objective will to secure the main target as others create us working room."

"The third squad is me and Ceruleon, as well as our operatives," Azuhrius said. "We will be debilitating enemy's ability to move against us as well as make preparations for our escape."

"Fourth squad will be Tsagaan and Fionn," Dunstan said. "Fionn's job is to be there to make sure our escape will happen without us getting blasted off the sky by the overwhelming military air superiority of Atlas, and Tsagaan is covering him. What is the situation of the device?"

"The device is operational and ready for use," Fionn said with a monotone voice. "We get onboard the station and I will make sure it fulfills its purpose."

"It better work!" Vermilion snarled. "I did not drag it all the way from Mars to have it fail when we need it."

"Shut up Vermilion," Flavius spat.

"The combined distraction of White Fang and our squads should provide us with enough time to complete our goal before the Atlesians can fully mobilize against us," Smurfus said. "But hey, that is just a theoretical, a war theoretical. So prepare for change caused by circumstances."

Exactly, Nox though. No battle plan survives a contact with an enemy. And no battle plan survived contact with some of the Legionnaires present in the room.

"I have a question," Nox said as he realized a rather massive detail about the plan. "How are we getting on board? It is a flying fortress after all." Nox sure was not going to tell all of them he had a gunship, much less was he willing to take these bastards on board. They would not all even fit inside if they meant to bring the device along. "We are not going to mail ourselves there or something, right?"

Azuhrius and Ceruleon stared at Nox. " _Why didn't we think of that?"_ Ceruleon muttered half to himself.

"We have secured a way of getting on board the station," Maroos was the one who answered. "We are going to make a pact that allows us to cut through space."

Nox narrowed his eyes. "A pact? With whom?" he asked, even though he was pretty sure he already knew the answer.

"With a prince of Other World," Maroos replied.

* * *

 **Well, there you have it, the plans of the legions. The next chapter will be some more preparation and then it is show time.**

 **Also, I have been working on new character pictures of Team ASON, and I am done with most of them. I only need to finish Sangur. These ones are remarkable in a sense that in them my Legionnaire will have faces. I still don't like drawing faces, but I have given it a shot and they turned fine enough so far that I feel I can show them to you guys. They will no non-canon faces though, only my artistic interpretations. Yes, I am the author, but if you imagine their faces to be different then keep on doing so. I always wanted everyone to make their own vision what my characters' faces are like. The pictures will be released at the end of V2.5. They will also be on a youtube video by Caedus, who has promised to make a new ASON tribute when I get the pictures done. This time the song will be picked by me. Look forward to it.**

 **Leave review if you feel like it and have a nice day.**


	47. Chapter 46

**What are you reading this for? The chapter is bellow.**

* * *

 **Chaos it the Prize Chapter 46**

 **" _Tension is always rife, even between blood-bound allies, for glory in the eyes of the Legion's power players, and in the eyes of the Gods._**

 ** _Maybe you stay. Maybe you go._**

 ** _Maybe, maybe, maybe._**

 ** _That's what it's like to be a Chaos Marine."_**

 **-Aaron Dembski-Bowden**

 ** _"No worse fate can befall a man than to be surrounded by traitor souls."_**

 **-William S Burroughs**

* * *

After the meeting Legionnaires started making their preparations. What little they could do for their wargear was done, the weapons and armor pieces becoming as worthy of war as they would ever be. Oaths and prayers were practiced by Venatores in the dark confines of their personal quarters when no one was around to hear, promises of vengeance against the Kingdoms and requests for power and fortune in the coming war for the Dark Gods of the Empyrean.

Eventually it came time for them to gather in the Apothecarium, where Ceruleon equipped them with means to preserve the genetic legacy of the Legions should they fall. The transparent capsules with ice dust seals were passed along, making sure anyone of the Legionnaires could if need be harvest the precious geneseed of a fallen warrior if Ceruleon was not there to do it himself with a proper Narthecium.

"I trust everyone here knows what a progenoid gland looks like, so that you know what organs to cut out from the body?" Ceruleon asked as he offered around a basket filled with the capsules.

There were nods and affirmative grunts from others, but Tsagaan raise his hand. "I actually don't know what they look like, I have never never had the opportunity of witness them."

"What, you have never killed anyone of the Legions and watched their dead body get harvested?" Grollo asked.

"No, I have not," Tsagaan said, surprising Cerulon and a few others.

" _Lame,_ " Sangur grunted as he took a capsule and stored it in a belt bouch behind his back.

"They are those strange globs in the chest and the neck, you can't miss them. Just cut them out and seal them into a capsule," Ceruleon gave an extremely fast lesson into the art of Geneseed harvesting. "And should you come into possession of said glands, just give them to me before the ice dust loses its effect and I will seal them into the gene vaults when we get back here."

With the capsules distributed, the Legionnaires started drifting out of the Apothecarium, which was good since Cerulean did not want most of them anywhere near his precious equipment for any longer than necessary, at least as long as they were alive. When they died they were more than welcome to pay a visit. They would be a lot less aggressive while Ceruleon was ripping the precious organs from their cold bodies.

"I have not been here in long while," Ceruleon heard Orchid say from the sidelines. Most of the Legionnaires had already left, and only Azuhrius and Orchid had stayed with the Apothecary. "I think last time I was here was because I had found my overdose level for mixed drugs," Orchid continued with a dreamy gaze. "On that day, I promised I would never overdose again… But then I did, multiple times afterwards."

Ceruleon let out an inaudible snarl. He did not like Orchid, not one bit. He recognized the Legionnaire of the IIIrd was a valuable tool for Azuhrius, Orchid brought much needed martial prowess to Azuhrius' arsenal that he needed to guard against Smurfus and his allies, but Ceruleon could not make himself see what his brother saw in the servant of the Dark Prince. If it was up to Ceruleon, Orchid would have been expended long time ago. He was bad influence on Azuhrius, a dangerous link to rival God of the Pantheon.

There was a sudden ringtone sound, and Cerulon turned towards its source that was Orchid. He watched as the Legionnaire pulled forth a scroll that was making the noise.

"Oh, I have a call," Ochid said without further hasle. Apparently it did not seem that strange to him that he was getting reception in the catacombs of Terra.

Ceruleon shared a glance with Azuhrius. "Put it on the speaker," His brother said as Orchid answered the call.

"Ello~, this is greatest swordsman on Remnant speaking?" Orchid said to the scroll.

" _Hello. This is Primarch Horus Lupercal. Due to Legions once more planning war, they need someone with strength and know-how to lead them. I have decided to return as the Warmaster and forgive you for everything."_

Orchid closed the scroll and turned it off. "Fucking Deamon prank calls!"

"I don't understand why you would even keep your scroll turned on in here," Ceruleon grunted as he got back to his preparations.

Orchid and Azuhrius left eventually, leaving Ceruleon alone with Miusta who was hanging on the sidelines of the room like a shadow. She would be the only Hydra Network Operative who would not be be taking part in the mission, and would stay behind in Terra's catacombs. All the other Operatives had already arrived to Terra or were making preparations in Vacuo by acquiring material for the coming war. With Miusta staying behind, that would mean six Operatives armed for combat. Not a terribly threatening force against the amy of Atlas, but it was not the numbers but how you used them.

Couple of hours passed as Ceruleon worked. He took apart and reassembled his Narthecium, checked the sterile gland vials, generally cleaned around, as well as checked on the VIth Legion Neophyte that was still clinging to life against his failing body in the corner. Eventually he also checked on his secret Neophyte in one the the sub-chambers. Miusta would be looking after the the child while Ceruleon was gone.

After some time he heard the door of the Apothecarium open and footsteps coming down the stair. Ceruleon turned to look and to his displeasure it was none other than Smurfus with his his ever following goons, Flavius and Rustus.

"And what do you want?" Ceruleon asked. He doubted they were there to kill him, but still his hand came to rest on a stun grenade hanging from the back of his belt.

"Shrike told to gather everyone, he wants us all to come to the meeting with Sythonax, for whatever reason. Maroos said he could deal with the Deamon but Shrike said since the pact we are making touches all of us we should all be there," Smurfus said dispassionately. "We are on the way there now and dropped by to tell you."

"Well tell them I will be there shortly. I am busy but if Shrike wants us to be there in the spirit of our joint operation then nothing can be done about it."

Smurfus nodded and was about to turn away but stopped himself. "Speaking of spirit of joint operation, I hope we are in mutual understanding that any schism between Legionnaires during this mission would be… undesirable and harmful to our success. So with that in mind, I hope we can put aside any differences we might have until we return. I would appreciate if I count on the stability of our cooperation"

Ceruleon smiled politely. "Yes, that would be the best. Rest assured me nor my brother have any interest to see this mission fail, so if you can uphold the spirit of cooperation then so can we." Ceruleon wondered why Smurfus was having this conversation with him and not Azuhrius. Maybe the Ultramarine's pride simply did not allow him to go for his rival with the matter. And in any case, such words were half useless. If anybody was going to betray anyone during the mission, it would be despite all promises and assurances spoken beforehand. But Ceruleon was not worried. Even if Smurfus had not brought this up, which spoke about his concerns and hopes for the mission's success, Ceruleon did not think there was anything to worry about from him. The common interest for victory was strong enough to quell any possible schism, this time around.

"Good to hear," Smurfus said "It is good that we can at least be cooperative at times like this. It is a shame we can't manage it more often."

Ceruleon felt almost insulted by the fakeness of those particular words, but he nodded. "There are two major reasons that stand in the way of our prolonged cooperation. One is your pathological hate for me, Azuhrius and XXth Legion, and the other is that we are a bunch of untrustworthy crooks."

"Yes," Smurfus agreed. "But despite everything, us Ultramarines and you Alpha Legion have build this place together," he said as he gestured around the chamber.

"Yeah, so how about you destroy it together as well!" Flavius said eagerly, totally misreading the moment.

Smurfus elbowed the Fist hard. "I mean, yeah, cooperation is a good thing, yes, that was what I meant!" Flavius hastily corrected himself.

"Well, I will see you soon. Don't keep Shirke waiting," Smurfus said and hurriedly turned himself and Flavius towards the stairs and then he marched away. Flavius stay for awhile to glare at Ceruleon.

"If you have any problem with me, how about we solve it like true Legionnaires?" Ceruleon said to the Fist.

Flavius let out an angry growl. "I am not playing Legionnaire's Card game with you, fuck your Reptile deck," he snarled and marched after Smurfus.

Only Rustus was still standing before Ceruleon. "Was that exchange about spirit of cooperation serious?" he rasped from behidn his gasmask.

"Of course," Ceruleon said. "You know me, I am always serious and honest."

Rustus let out a sound that Ceruleon could not decipher.

"Rustus, for fuck sake!" Flavius yelled from the top of the Apothecarium where he was glaring at the two of them.

Rustsu glanced behind him. "I wonder why he sounds so angry towards me, we usually get along fine," he said with slightly surprised tone.

"I suspect paranoia, poor emotion control, inanity and plain common assholeness," Ceruleon replied. "Additionally I suspect he does not like you talking with me, his pseudo enemy."

"Should we stop?" Rustus asked.

"Oh no, on the contrary let's keep talking, and on top of that clasp hands like we just sealed sort of deal," Ceruleon said as he reached out his hand.

Rustus grunted with amusement and clasped the outstretched hand.

Afterwards Ceruleon wondered if the amount of washing it took to get the stench off his hand was worth messing with Flavius.

* * *

"So, Nox, how are things at Beacon?" Tsagaan asked as they walked down the corridor away from the stairs that lead down to the floors touched by the Warp Storm in the basement. Nox had not wanted to stay in presence of Sythonax anymore than was necessary so the moment they had done making the formalities of the pact, he had started climbing up the stairs. Cerin had gone somewhere since he was not allowed down there with the mature Legionnaires, so Nox was left with those Venatores that had also instantly left the basement, so now Sangur, Tsagaan, Orchid and Ceruleon were walking by his side towards the upper floors of the catacombs.

"Terribly," Nox replied . "You can't even imagine what it is like there. I'm trapped inside a nightmare every single f'king day."

"Really? Even though you have your own team and all of fellow Venatores?" Tsagaan asked. "I don't like the huntsman academies but I would think it would be more bearable with some company."

"I was forced into both that team and that academy!" Nox snarled.

"You could always leave," Tsagaan pointted out. "Do what you want, for a Venatore is free."

"That is exactly what they want me to do! I am not leaving!" Nox cried out in outrage. "I can't let them win, that is exactly what they want! Even I have some pride/integrity/stupidity/childish stubbornness for fuck sake! When I leave it is going to be on my terms! I will walk out as the victor from it all."

"Unless things get hot, they you will cut you losses and flee with all haste, right?" Ceruleon asked.

"Well _duh_ ," Nox replied.

Tsagaan sighed. "Well, make sure you look after you Neophyte brother if you are going to take him with you on this mission. He is not ready for war, but who am I to stop him. So make sure when things get hot, you flee together."

"You sound rather fond of Cerin," Ceruleon pointed out.

"Not particularly, I simply think that risking and wasting our Neophytes is not a way we are going to rise again," Tsagaan replied. "Speaking of Neophytes, how is that VIth Legion one in your Apothecarion doing?"

"He is only getting worse," Ceruleon answered. "I can't stop the rejection of the Wolf blood in him, it is simply beyond my abilities to fix. It is surprising that the has lasted this long, but I don't think he will last much longer. If he had what it took to pull though, he would have done it already."

"Wolves sure have it tough with their genseed," Tsagaan said with a tone that Nox could have mistaken for sympathy.

"Yes, indeed," Nox agreed. "If they continue like this, they might be joining XIth and XVth in extinction." And good riddance, Nox thought to himself.

"You know, I always found it hard to believe that the chosen Legion of the Architect of Fate could die with a patron like that," Ceruleon mused. "Do you truly think that the Changer of Ways would lose like that? I almost actually expect Warp to open one day and spit out a full Legion of Thousand Sons that have been hiding there all this time. Then they will laugh _just as planned right_ at us."

"What about you, Sangur," Tsagaan asked surprisingly. "I understood were the only survivor of implantation from your Legion in your batch." Tsagaan glanced at Ceruleon. "Is the XIIth Geneseed anymore better than the Wolves?"

"It's not the actual implantation and reasons caused by it that lead to so many fatalities," Ceruleon replied. "They actually have a decently good successful implantation rate for the geneseed itself. But the Nails on the other hand, they are where the problem lies."

Nox glanced at Sangur but he did not seem to mind the topic. The Genseed of the XIIth was claimed by the Blood God, and as such no Legionnaire of that bloodline lived long if they were not implanted with the characteristic aggression spikes of their Legion. Terra actually did not have any operational Butcher's Nails left, so the Apothecaries took shards from broken Nails and hammered them into the skulls of the XIIth Legionnaires. The power of the Blood God took care of the rest, causing the brain to react to these symbolic fragments and turn them into Warp powered pain engines. Nox had once seen the the Sangur's Nails. In his scalp, hidden mostly underneath his brown hair, there were three sharp metal fragments sticking out of the flesh and bone.

"So the Nails kill most of the Neophytes?" Tsagaan asked, and Ceruloen nodded.

"I remember them," Sangur said suddenly, drawing everyone's attention. "My brothers… There was three of us… Three sons of the Lord the Red Sands …" Sangur's face twitched as he remembered. "The first one… he lost control as soon as the Nails were hammered in… he lashed out, attacking anything in sight… so they put him down, right there and then."

This was new information to Nox. Sangur had never talked about it, so Nox had assumed he did not remember the implantation.

"And the second one…" Sangur said with a somewhat sad look. "He… he hit his head against the stone… smashing it until... his skull gave in… he beat himself to death."

Nox clasped Sangur's shoulder. "Does not matter. You are here, you survived. That is all that matters."

"I personally don't really care," Orchid said. "Neophytes are meddlesome and they get in your way. Think they can be better than you one day."

That is what you get for being of the IIIrd Legion, Nox though. They all wanted to be Lucius.

"Just be glad your Legion has Neophytes," Tsagaan said. "Some people don't have other true warrior brothers in their Legion at all."

"I heard that!" came sudden shout of Smurfus from somewhere far behind and below. Ceruleon chuckled.

"Well, let's hope to god our coming endeavours will help us with the Neophyte situation and numbers," Tsagaan said.

"Unfortunately…" Nox muttered bitterly. "The _god of hope_ is freaking _evil_ …"

* * *

"So this where these had gone," Nox said as he looked up to the three Paladin battlemechs standing motionlessly in the storage hall. "Always wondered what you guys did with them after Mountain Glen. How did you guys get them here all the way from Vale?"

"We mailed them," Ceruleon said, and Nox could not quite tell if that was a serious answer.

The warmachines had gone through some changes since the last time Nox saw them. The White Fang symbols had been removed and been replaced by serpentine depictions of Hydras that were all individually different form the other two machines. There had been some other marking changes, as well as some additional equipment added. There were large harnesses for pouches and carrying stuff, some of them filled with simple tools. Nothing fancy, Nox could see shovels, tents, camonets and liquid canisters. It seemed like The snakes had been trying to equip the battlesuits to be able to carry out many different roles, as much as the poor material situation of Terra allowed. The machines were no longer dull gray but had been instad been given some black and brown camo paint. They had probably thought they could never make them pass for Atlesian mechs so they had not even tried to make them look Atlesian.

"Do they have names?" Cerin asked as he jumpped from one mech to another.

"Yes. This one is _Evil-Motherfucking-Sloth_ , EMS for short," Azuhirus said as he tapped the leg of the first Paladin. "And other are _Mech-2_ and _Mech-3_."

"I got to name the first one," Orchid explained with a smile.

"Figures," Sangur grunted.

* * *

The Apothecarium had never seen such traffic outside of recruitment and implantation seasons. It seemed like the week the Legionnaires spend making preparations before the great operation caused them all to become nervous and jumpy, and therefore they were roaming around Terra half without destination in anticipation. Apothecarium was only one of such places that drew Legionaires for surprise visits.

Cerin had rarely been in the Apothecarium. Ever since his own implantation when he had been ascended into the ranks of the VIIIth Legion, he had only entered the realm of Ceruleon couple of times. He never really liked the place. It smelled of death, of Legion death, even if it was the series of chambers where new blood was added to the Legions. Since the implantation had such high fatality rates, maybe it was a place of death as well.

Ceruleon had made the place like his own personal chambers. There were objects around that clearly did not belong to an Apothecarium, things that were there purely because Ceruleon practically lived there with that one slave operative of his.

One such object was a large comfortable cushion chair (that had been welded into the floor to stop people from stealing it, as well a sprobably boobytrapped) by an even more out of place shrub plant that was growing beside it, providing the dull gray chamber with some green color. There was a small table beside the chair, and on that table where two books in a minimalist book stand.

Cerin came closer out of curiosity and read the names of the books from the backs. The other books was called _Transit of the Human Soul through Strife_ , and did not mean anything to him. But the other book really surprised Cerin, for it was _The Book of Lorgar_. It was a plain book that had probably Ceruleon's handwriting on its cover reading _These deamons seem pretty legit and entirely trustworthy_. But despite everything, still there it was, sitting on Ceruleon's table.

"I heard you visited Beacon academy," Came the voice of Ceruloen from behind Cerin, where the snake was standing beside lord Kiarana. Cerin turned toward them, locking eyes with Ceruleon."I feel like I get mixed opinions of the place depending of who I ask about it. What did you think?"

"It is a very strange place, not without its good sides," Cerin said vaguely. "Some people there are complete idiots and weaklings. And some…" Cern said as he an image of Weiss flashed in his mind. " _Some_ may have great futures ahead of them."

"Really? That's a new one." Ceruleon mused. "Great futures you say?"

"Yes," Cerin said. "People with actual futures..." _Unlike you..._

"I thought the place was an interesting mess," Kiarana rasped.

"Point, we did have battles for tasty food while I was there," Cerin shrugged. "I took part in some raiding with my brother. Apparently it is not so uncommon there."

"How typical," Ceruleon said with a faint sneer as he looked around. "Most of us Venatores have become so... _changed_ that we physically are unable muster the patience do anything not involving fighting. And as such we are forced to steal and plunder what we want from those who are able."

"Nox must have liked having you there," Kirana murmured. "We are sometimes so wasteful with our brothers, and cousin to an extent. Only when they are gone do we realize what we have lost. And then we implant geneseed to turn recruits into new clones of our Progenitors so that we don't feel so alone. Is there a fate worse than fighting a war alone?"

Ceruleon and Cerin shared glances, and decided to ignore Kirana. "Should you not be getting ready for the war? You and Nox are to leave tonight, right?" Ceruleon asked from Cerin.

"Yes, we are leaving in couple of hours with his gunship," Cerin could not help having his excitement saturate his voice. "War calls…"

"War is eternal, and so is our thirst to wage it..." Shrike murmured dementedly, before pulling himself together and looking at Cerin. "It is good that you managed to convince your brother to join us, I knew you could do it. He will have his part to play in the coming war, and perhaps further."

"Did mentioning fuel for his gunship help persuading him?" Cerulone asked innocently.

"Yeah, I think it helped. It was a good tip, thanks Ceruleon," Cerin replied.

"No big deal," Ceruleon waved away.

"Well, I guess I should go looking for my brother," Cerin said as he took couple of steps towards the stairs. "This war depends on our recon after all."

"Besure to take care of the scroll," Ceruleon reminded. "Nox can't be trusted with it so it is up to you to call us when to begin."

"Yes yes, I am on it. Just be ready to bring the wrath of the Legions upon them," Cerin smiled twistedly.

"And be careful, don't do anything to draw their attention before the White Fang strikes," Ceruleon repeated what had been told to Cerin numerous times already, as if he was he was somehow unreliable or forgetful because he was a Neophyte. "We have plans and preparations, but the Atlesians still outnumber and outgun us."

"Yes… caution must be practiced, if any of you are to come back alive," Kiarana rasped from behind his mask.

"Come on, you are making this sound overly dangerous," Cerin said, the thrill of ever nearing battle flowing in his veins. "We can take them. We Legions are the greatest warriors in the world, aren't. The greatest force Remnant has ever seen!"

" _Yes..."_ Kiarana said dreamily as Cerin headed for the stairs. " _Once… we really were…"_

* * *

 **I just realized... I have written mostly talking chapters lately. Gods of the Warp, _I have become Rooster Teeth!_**

 **Well, hopefully the next series of chapters will bring some much needed action. The following chapters till the end of V2.5 will also possibly be a bit shorter than average for pacing reasons. Also because I need to cram in more quotes. But mostly pacing reasons.**

 **About to go loud.**

 **Leave a review, if you feel like it, and have a nice day.**


	48. Chapter 47

**At the moment my story is two reviews away from top 5 RWBY/40k stories on this site when counting by the reviews (the only right way to count). That means this chapter probably will usher me into the top 5, among great stories such as _The World of Bloody Evolution_ and _In the Grimm Darkness._** **This milestone is probably as high as I will get. _Unless I decide to write a story about a Space Wolf, Blood Raven, Ultramarine, Lamenter, Krieg guardsman and a Primarch on remnant._ It would be trash, but it would reach top 5 with but a few chapters me thinks. That said, I will almost surely lose this top 5 position as soon as certain stories update.**

 **Okay, time to get this battle rolling.**

* * *

 **Chaos is the Prize** **Chapter 47**

 ** _"That's the problem with heroes, really. Their only purpose in life is to thwart others. They make no plans, develop no strategies. They react instead of act. Without villains, heroes would stagnate. Without heroes, villains would be running the world. Heroes have morals. Villains have work ethic."_**

 **\- Narration from _The Last Avengers_ Story**

 _ **"There's chaos out there, and chaos means opportunity."**_

 **-Marc Ostrofsky**

* * *

Lieutenant Colonel Schwarz of the Atesian military was a man of two things: duty and vigilance. Therefore he had been in the command center when the transmission for help came, even though the command center of _Aegis_ did not really need his supervision to run its routines. It was extremely rare for matters noteworthy of his attention to raise while he was overseeing the center, but when they so rarely did, he was immediately on top of things.

An airship that had been traveling from Mistral to Atlas had send an emergency message five minutes ago, reporting that it had been attacked by a Nevermore, and been damaged in the encounter. It was requesting permission for emergency landing on _Aegis_ , and Schwarz had been quick to grant the permission and order a hanger to be prepared for the airship in distress. He also dispatched gunships to move out and escort the airship, and to be in readiness to help should the airship be forced to make an emergency landing in the sea.

During the seven years Schwarz had been the commander of _Aegis_ , he had witnessed similar situations multiple times. It was one of the duties of _Aegis_ to assist those in need in the sea. The Grimm were ever a threat to air traffic that did not possess means to defend itself. Sometimes the Grimm took down airships without him fim finding out until the wreckage was found. Sometimes calls for help did reach Aegis, but the ships in peril never managed to reach the station. Loss of life was not new to Schwarz, he had seen it all too often, and as such he knew that speed was of the essence.

"We have a visual, Lieutenant Colonel" one of the officers called out from his consol to Schwarz.

"What is the situation," Schwarz asked as he moved to stand behind the man and the console, looking at a picture of the airship that was still but a dot in the distance against the blue sky. He could see his two gunships speeding towards it, barely dots themselves in the magnified camera capture.

"There is no sighting of the Grimm," comms officer said from his station. "The airship is a cargo hauler and has sustained damage, but the pilot reports he believes he can make it to the station."

"Good, keep monitoring the situation," Schwarz said. "What is the nature of the ship's cargo?"

The comms officer relayed the question with his headphones, and received an immediate reply. "The pilot says the ship is empty and is on its way to Atlas, where its new cargo is waiting. There are only two people on the airship."

"I see. Is the landing are cleared for the ship?" Schwarz asked from another officer.

"We have it cleared, emergency personnel are on their way there and should be there in ten minutes."

"Good. Ask the pilot if he think he is able to land the craft safely, and instruct him with the landing procedure." Schwarz said to the comms officer. So far all seemed to be going smoothly, the emergency situation was not looking too severe. Schwarz was not letting himself be taken by relief just yet however. He would be doing that only after the airship touched the landing pad safely. Only then would all be alright.

* * *

Zilar sat in silence in the crew compartment of the cargo hauler, his fellow White Fang members all around him, sharing his silence. They were all armed, and many were making nervous checks on their equipment in the sparsely lit bay. The Atlesian gunships could be heard flying alongside their craft, the sound their thrusters well audible over the engine of the cargo hauler. The sound signified that they were close, that soon it was time to act.

Zilar slowly ran his hand over the surface of the flat of the large buzzsaw weapon attached to his right wrist, looking at his own reflection on the silvery surface. This was it.

There were four other Faunus Aura wielders beside him in the cargo bay, the rest were regular fighters. Zilar was the leader of the task force, and they all answered to him, they were his subordinates. Except for the parasol girl sitting opposite of Zilar.

She was a human, an ally send by Brother Adam, apparently someone who was heavily involved in the operations in Vale. Todays mission was all so that she would be able to fill her part in the future, whatever that was. Zilar did not like working alongside a human, but Brother Adam had send her and Zilar did as he commanded. It was all for the good of the White Fang.

There was a hard knock against the door leading to the cockpit of the arship, and Zilar rose up, his animal ears twitching among his silvery hair. "Get ready!" he called out, and the rest of the White Fang members rose up after him. It was time for action.

His little force was not a thread to _Aegis_. He had an cargo hauler full of fighters of fighters, but the Atlesian bastards had an army of killing machines. Fortunately he had something in the the main cargo hold of the airship that should help to even the odds and make the Atlesians busy while he extracted what they had come from.

There was a loud thump and the airship shook as it landed onto the station. "Show time," Zilar snarled. "Open the main cargo hold!"

* * *

That cargo hauler airship had made its landing without trouble onto one of the docking bays that opened up from _Aegis'_ upper half, right above where the large docking bridges extended from the narrow part of the station to connect with a military cruiser ship.

Captain Vit Carolean was standing by the doors that connected the bay into the rest of the station, surrounded by half a squad of Atlesian Fire Warriors, station mechanics and medical aid personnel. A strong gust of wind entered through the large bay doors open to air as the cargo ship landed onto the landing pad that was stretching out slightly out of the bay, caressing his half shaved blond hair.

Vit waited for the landing ship to power down its engine before he stepped forward with the rest of the Atlesian personnel behind him. He made almost half the way to the aircraft when the large hatch of the main cargo bay rattled open. Vit stopped on his tracks as soon as the lights of the docking bay shone inside the dark bay and revealed what was stored inside. Vit let out a cry of alarm before the red eyes in the darkness surged forward.

The King Tajitu slithered out with a chilling hiss, it's black end rising it head as far as it was able in the confined space of the bay. The white end was still inside the cargo hauler that had harried the monster when the first end surged forward to strike.

Vit's hand landed on his side arm at the same moment as the Fire Warrior in his left was snatched by the black head. The sudden cry of the man was cut short as the Tajitu crushed the man with its jaws. Vit started falling back even as he took aim with his pulse pistol, supported by the other Fire Warriors as the mechanics and medical crew fled from the bay.

"Fall back! Fall back!" Vit cried out as he narrowly managed to jump aside as the white head of the snake surged forward in turn, sending another of Vit's men smashing against the back wall of the bay.

The soldiers scurried away from the docking bay, firing pot shot from their pulse carbines as they went. Vit hurled himself through the door, almost feeling the fanged mouth snap right on his heels. "Close the door!" he yelled needlessly as one of the the Fire Warriors was already hitting the controls. The doors slid shut, but the immediate bangs that send the door buckling clearly told that it was not going to hold the creature of Grimm for long.

"This is captain Carolean!" Vit cried into his intercom device as he sprang into motion rough the corridor. "We have a King Tajitu on board the station, I repeat, we have a King Tajitu on board the station!"

The communication channels were suddenly filled with voices, and the alarms started blaring across the station that had just come under attack.

* * *

"I take that means it has begun," Cerin said as the he heard the alarms start blaring faintly in the distance.

"So it would seem," Nox agreed.

The two of them were sitting on top of the _Night Reaver_ , that had been landed on a small uninhabited island in the middle of the northern sea. Ceruleon had pinpointed the island on the map before they had left, claiming it would have a perfect observation point near Aegis, and the snake of XXth had been right.

The two of them had been waiting for a bit over a day, in constant vigilance for signs of the White Fang stating their attack on the flying space fortress looming far in the distance. Now their patience had been rewarded at last.

"Well, I guess you should give the lot back at Terra that call. I will get the engine running," Nox said with a eager smile as he hopped down from the fusilade of his aircraft.

"On it," Cerin quipped as he pulled forth a scroll from his belt, and startted typing with his white fingers. Then he followed his brother, beaming with anticipation. "War calls! _Ave Dominus Nox!_ "

" _Ave Dominus Nox!"_ Nox replied with a laugh.

* * *

Azuhrius' scroll let out a noise that seemed impossibly loud in the underground chamber silenced by tension. Every single Venatore sitting or standing on top of the large metal balcony above the Warp Storm raging bellow instantly perked up, eyes gleaming.

Azuhrius camly pulled forth his scroll, and checked the message send by Cerin. He then folded the device away. "It is time," he said, those simple words carrying tremendous weigh.

"Get in line, cousins!" Grollo laughed. "TIME FOR _WAR!_ "

" _WAR!_ " Many others echoed as they moved into one cohesive formation before the Prince of the Empyrean looming over them in the unlight of the storm.

Sythonax's white chitinous form towered at the end of the balcony, his wings casting shadows over the closest Venatores. He stood immobile as he watched those still shackled by the materium scurry before him. The Venatores kept their distance to the Deamon, looking at it with mix of fear and respect. Sythonax was an immortal avatar of the might of Chaos, a Legionnaire that had earned for himself the ultimate reward the Gods could bestow. Azuhrius wondered how many of his cousins wanted, consciously or not, to be like Sythonax, to escape the game of life and their own demise.

"Get ready," Azuhrius gave the order over his shoulder, and the six Hydra Network operatives behind him stepped into formation, and loaded their low grade autoguns. "Time to serve the Legion."

"We are with you, no matter what," Kaltrina said with a conviction as he held her gun across her chest.

"I expect nothing less," Azuhrius said with a faint smile, casting his gaze across the girls to make sure they were ready.

Som and Vi were carrying the demolition packages over their shoulders. The explosives as well as the weapons the operatives carried were of poor quality, cheaply bought from the black market of Vacuo, but they would have to do.

Mizudori and Kimidori, twin sisters as it was clear from their appearances, stood in perfect attention behind Som and Vi, ready to use their weapons tightly clenched in their hands. The twins carried guns of better grade than the rest, weapons that they had acquired during their extentives operations in Vacuo and Mistral.

Seryy was standing by Ceruleon, listening intently on something Azuhrius' brother was whispering into her ear. She nodded in understanding, and remained where she was as Ceruleon moved to stand beside Azuhrius.

"Everything clear?" Azuhrius asked and Ceruleon nodded. Azuhrius proceeded to turn towards Maroos, who was standing closest to Sythonax. He nodded, and the Word Bearer stepped towards the Deamon.

"We are ready to march into war for the Dark Gods," Maroos said with reverence to the Deamon. "Make the way clear for us, great one."

" _ **War calls…"**_ the Deamon Prince said with a voice saturated with the power of the Warp. It turned slightly to the left, and lifted its arms. The it slashed the air, and the reality ripped open after its touch.

The tear was hard to describe, for it was hard to look at it. It seemed to be without color, like an unnatural dark hole coiling as a whirlpool of power, even if its shape, form and appearance lost any meaning as soon as one attempted to describe it in detail. It flickered like a flame, as if it could be put out any moment, drifting on the knife edge of existing in this reality for a brief moment longer. It was there, a portal of unreality that ha been acquired deceptively easily from the Deamon Prince, a portal that apparently was draining ten years worth of Warp's fickle favour and energy. There would not be another boon like this from the Gods any time soon if the Legionnaires could not achieve results and give something worthy in return with this endeavour at hand.

" _ **Then… go forth, and prove yourselves…"**_ The Deamon rasped, its disturbingly human silver eyes turning to the Venatores.

There was very brief moment of silence as the Venatores stared into the dark depths of the portent that would lead them to battle, send to them by the dark powers. It would be one way trip, there was no coming back the same way. They would have to complete their objective to secure a way off _Aegis_ , or they would not be coming back at all.

"The time is now, cousin!" Maroos called out as he pointed at the portal with his crozius. "Forward, for the glory of Chaos!"

A wild barrage of different war cries sounded off, and the Venatores started moving towards the portal. Flavius was the first through, disappearing seamlessly into the portal. Grollo was not far behind him, followed by Sangur. Smurfus was next, followed by Dunstan and then Orchid.

Azuhrius motioned, and the first two of his operatives moved forward. Som and Seryy dived after the Venatores, and were swallowed by the portal just like them. Rustus stompped in after them.

"See you on the other side," Ceruleon said as he dived in, followed my Mizudori and Kimidori.

Azuhrius lifted Stalker, loaded the gun with a swift motion, and glanced to his left.

Fionn, Vermilion and Tsagaan were pushing _the machine_ towards the portal. The bulky metal thing was taken as easily by the portent as the warriors of blood and flesh, and Fionn followed right after it. Tsagaan was gone in the next moment, and Vermilion after him.

"And finally us," Maroos said as Azuhrius stepped before the portal, flanked by Kaltrina and Vi.

Azuhrius glanced at the Word Bearer one last time, hoping with all his heart that he had not missed anything, that something had not gone wrong with the Warp portal, or that there was not some dark scheme or plot behind all of this. He looked ahead again and took a deep breath. There was no turning back now. The die was cast. And so Azuhrius stepped forward, entered the portal, and allowed the Warp cast him away.

* * *

 **When the traitors' hand strikes, it strikes with the force of what is left of their Legions.**

 **I will try to give some spotlight to most Venatores in this battle of _Aegis_.**

 **Okay, I have a small prediction question for you guys. What do you guys think the Venatores are trying to achieve with this attack? IT will be revealed in the next chapter. Because I can say they are not doing something insanely dangerous like this for the hell of it. At least most of them.**

 **Leave a review if you feel like it and have a nice day.**


	49. Chapter 48

**That was fast, this chapter almost wrote itself. I just sat down, started writing and then I could not stop. It felt good to write some action again.**

 **I also reached that top 5 RWBY/40k stories that I was talking about. Thanks a lot, I appreciate your readership.**

* * *

 **Chaos is the Prize Chapter 48**

 _ **"If you want to win anything - a race, yourself, your life - you have to go a little berserk."**_

 **-George A. Sheehan**

 _ **"It is a mistake to push a man to violence, when violence is what the man has dedicated his life to perfecting."**_

 **-Tim Kennedy**

 _ **"We were crusaders. Then we became warriors. But we were never soldiers."**_

 _ **...**_

 _ **"Drop your weapon, Captain Abaddon. We're here to steal your ship."**_

 **-Lheorvine Ukris of the World Eaters**

They had told him it would be just like teleportation. Jumping through that foul sorcerous portal was nothing like teleportation. Only after he was trough did he realize he had never experienced teleportation either, and that somebody may have tricked him. Yeah, he should have probably realized that sooner. But the moment he was on the other side of the Warp corridor he found enemies, and that quickly made him forget everything else.

Flavius and Grollo were standing in a metal corridor before him as Sangur emerged from the portal. They had gone through before him only couple of seconds ago. Sangur stopped by them, shaking off the slight confusion caused by the Warp rift behind him.

There were people standing at the other end of the corridor across from the Legionnaires. People and machines. Soldiers clad in the white armor of Atlesian military, as well as their killer androids. Both the Legionnaires and the soldiers were struck standing and looking at one another, stunned by the sudden appearance of their respective parties. The soldiers and drones did not seem to know how to react, and the Venatores had not yet registered the situation. The moment stretched for almost three seconds, and then Sangur started gunning the triggers of his chainaxes.

The first shouts echoed in the corridor, and then the Venatores charged. Sangur crossed the distance between him and the lead soldier in couple of heart beats, and chopped the helmeted head off in a shower of blood. The blood splattered on him, on Flavius and on Grollo beside him, and onto the soldiers and drones that were next on the chopping block.

The violence erupted.

Sangur killed the next soldier in the next moment. Anything that moved before him died. When they died, he moved on. The fire inside of him took over, boiling in his veins and sending his instincts into overdrive. His head was suddenly filled with red haze, his nails screaming for blood _blood_ _ **blood**_ _**BLOOD!**_

" _BLOOD FOR THE BLOOD GOD!"_ Sangur roared as he killed and killed and killed, letting the fury take him.

* * *

"I think we have been spotted…" Smurfus snarled right after Orchid was trough. "So much for trying to avoid immediate detection..."

Orchid shook his head. The stimuli of the Warp travel vanished, replaced by sounds of combat. Fight, war, sensation, Orchid though as he looked around, seeking the source of the noise. "What a shame!" he laughed at Smurfus.

They were in a corridor of metal, with some doors on both sides. Smurfus and Dunstan were standing in alert right by the portal, scanning their surroundings. Orchid saw Sangur, Grollo and Flavius at the end of the corridor, engaged in brutal combat with Atlesian soldiers and drones that the lucky bastards had seemingly ran into as soon as they exited the Warp portal. Maybe the Warp had intentionally thrown them right into battle, how considerate~ Orchid was just about the rush in and join them when his hyper senses detected noise from the other end of the corridor right as Som and then Seryy exited the portal. Orchid turned to look and saw more Atlesian drones turn around the corner, weapons in readiness.

While Orchid stopped himself from joining Sangur and the others to react to this new thread from the opposite direction, Smurfus spun around and grabbed Som who had just exited the portal. The Ultramarine held the girl in front of him right as the androids opened fire. Som managed to let out a short scream before the blue weapon fire smashed into her body and silenced her, leaving only a rocking corpse to be held by Smurfus.

Dunstan leveled his wrist bolter and returned fire on the androids. Smurfus, still using Som as a shield started pushing towards the androids with his axe ready in the other hand, and his Aura protecting him from the few shot that got past his shield. Orchid and Dunstan moved to follow right as Rustus exited the portal and moved quickly to close the distance with their enemies.

Smurfus pushed forward with his corpse shield until he was almost on the androids, and then he discarded the body by hurling it into the group of drones. In the next moment he was on them, cleaving the first automaton in half with his axe.

Orchid let out a cry of laughter, jumped over Smurfus and decapitated two androids in one graceful sweep from his Malevolence. He kept laughing as they took apart the rest of the Atlesian junk bots, enjoying the taste of war that was the greatest drug imaginable.

* * *

Slate and then Maroos were the last ones trought. The portal flickered for a brief moment longer, visibly reaching the end of its minute long span of life, before slowly collapsing on itself and vanishing like it had never been there.

Ceruleon stood in the corridor with the other Venatores. He had been through the portal to see the end of the fights in both ends of the corridor. Sangur, Grollo and Flavius had put on quite a show of violence, it had been quite intriguing to watch them. It was like something snapped inside their heads, turning them into brutal murder machines of bloodlust and deep running battle instinct.

The fight was over now. Sangur, Flavius and Grollo had moved on from the corridor. Ceruleon's eyes were taking in the dead Atlesians, their machines soldiers and the torn body of Som. The dead Hydra Network operative was laying among the machines remains, and Vi was currently scavenging the precious explosives from the body. It was fortunate they had not gone off under fire.

"Please don't waste my operatives," Ceruleon said to Smurfus who did not react to his words.

"Time is of the essence," Maroos called out. "Let us get moving."

"Agreed. We need to figure out where we are, and how to proceed," Azuhrius said.

Ceruleon nodded. There had been no way to predict where the Warp portal would have delivered them. They were clearly on the station, but they needed to figure out where exactly and fast. Based on the fact that they had instantly ran into Atlesian forces, they were probably not far away from the center of the station's activity.

"We need a schematic map, or someone who knows the layout," Dunstan said.

"Flavius contacted me through our local scroll line. He, Sangur and Grollo pushed onward along that corridor," Smurfus said as he motioned with his hand. "There is apparently a larger space after couple of turns, some kind of operating room or at least a meeting area. There was apparently more soldiers there. We should head there for now to chart where we are."

"Sounds good," Ceruleon said as they started to move. It was not hard to see what turns the three Venatores had taken, the bloospatters were everywhere.

Azuhrius lifted his scroll. "Sangur? Flavius? Respond."

"What?" Came a grunt of Sangur from the device.

"I heard you guys ran into more soldiers. We need someone to interrogate for information. Are there any enemy survivors there with you?" There was only silence from the other end of the line for along moment. "...And I realised what a stupid question that was as soon as I said it. Well if you happen to find any more of enemies, don't kill them yet. We will be right there."

The Venatores soon reached where Sangur, Flavius and Grollo had pushed onward to. The corridor ended into a square chamber two floors tall, with multiple corridors leading into four directions. The space had been littered with torn remains of a dozen Atlesian soldiers, and Celuleon did not need to be a Apothecary to know there was no getting any info from them.

"Secure the area," Smurfus grunted as he looked around. "See if you can find a map or something."

"We should check the rooms in the nearby corridors," Dunstan suggested. "There may be someone still there."

"That is correct," Orchid said as he pointed at the left corridor leaving from the chamber. "There is someone in the first room on the right. I can hear their whimpering…"

"Good work," Azuhrius said as some Venatores moved towards the said corridor.

True enough, they found a lone man in the first room on the right, hidden in the corner. He let out a cry of alarm as Grollo moved to grab him and drag him into the corridor. Ceruleon noted that the man was not wearing armor, but was still in a uniform, so he was soldier but not a Fire Warrior line trooper.

"What do you want? Who are you?" the man asked with a fearful tone as he was kneeling in the circle of Venatores, glancing at those Legionnaires that were splattered with blood.

"Shut up. We are the ones asking questions here," Flavius growled.

Ceuleon crouched down beside the man. "We want you to tell us about this place. What level is this? Where is the closest armory, and where are the fire controls of the outside canons? What kind of military elements are on board this station?"

"I… I am not telling you anything…" The man said, managing to pull together some courage.

"Then we will make you talk," Ceruleon simply replied.

"To- torture is illegal by the international war treaties…" The man whimpered.

Some of the Venatores chuckled. "Does this look like a face of someone who has read any sort of treaties about war?" Grollo asked.

"It is a war crime!" The man pleaded.

"Only crime in war is to lose," Dunstan said stoically.

"And so, for yourself, give us what we want. It is only a waste of time to resist," Ceruleon said.

"I will… say nothing." The soldier said, tears flowing down his face. "Are you… going to torture me?"

"Torture you?" Ceruleon replied. "Oh no, I am not going to torture you. What kind of monster would do something like that." Ceruleon got up and turned. "Orchid, if you would..."

* * *

They did no have to listen to the screams for long. The Atlesian soldier resisted for almost two minutes, and then he was begging for Orchid to stop. At that point he was willing to give them anything.

Sangur was waiting in the two story chamber, leaning on the wall. His axes were firmly in his hands, and he was itching to move on and use them again. He had received the first taste of war, and now he was hungry for more.

Sangur lifted a cheap scroll he had been give by Azuhrius for communicating during the attack, opening up their chosen local channel. "Nox? Are you there? Sangur to Noooox."

"Yes, I am here," came the reply (after a considerable pause, which Sangur assumed was Nox tinkering to get his device to work), which meant Nox was inside the range of local communication.

"Where are you? I have already gotten first blood," Sangur asked.

"I an on top of the station. Me and Cerin are trying to find a way in. The guns did not shoot us down as we approached, so the Atlesians are probably still panicking and wondering what the hell is going on. If you ran into unbeatable resistance and things seem to be going to hell, head for the top of the station, and we will espace with the _Night Reaver_."

"There will be no need," Sangur said. "We are killing them, Nox. We are going to kill them all."

"Maybe you are. But one must always keep a way out open," Nox replied.

After Orchid was done with dealing with the soldier, he left him to the care of Ceruleon, and came to Sangur.

"Is that Nox?" Orchid asked, probably having picked up Nox's voice with his good ears. " Hey Nox, you don't know what you are missing, things are great here."

"I am sure they are," came the reply from Sangur's scroll.

"If only I had more time to share my talents of pain with that soldier," Orchid pouted. "We are in such a hurry. I could have so much more if we could have taken him with us. I didn't even get to cut his bones, give him electric shocks or beat him with a frozen sloth."

"Really? That last one is a new method for me," Nox said with curiosity. "Is it painful?"

"Oh, _believe me…_ " Orchid smiled.

Sangur noticed Ceruleon and the others had extracted what they needed from the enemy soldier, who laid limply by the wall. Most of the Venatores were busy with talking about their plans, moving towards some room in the other corridor where they apparently hoped to find a map or something. The immobile soldier was simply left behind, forgotten by his tormentors.

"I will see you later," Sangur said to the scroll, and folded it away. He started walking and moved to the soldier laying on the ground.

The man was clearly still in pain left by Orchid's methods. His wounds were minor, but clearly most agonizing. He looked up to Sangur with pain filled, teary eyes.

"I want you to know I am very much opposed to torture, and I hope that you can see the actions of my teammate in that context," Sangur said, before he raised Skalathrax and brought it down to end the man.

* * *

Captain Vit Carolean had thought the day had gone horribly wrong when he saw a King Tajitu slither from a cargo hauler on board the _Aegis_ station. He had been wrong. Horribly wrong.

He had just received reports of White Fang terrorist sightings on the docking floors when he had lead his men and drones into one of the many central utility spaces inside the _Aegis_ , with the intention of moving to intercept the Faunus radicals. That was when he ran into other intruders on board the station.

They seemed like teenagers. Little more than boys, only nearing adulthood. And then those boys had started killing his men. It had all happened so fast.

Those dozen little more than children had rushed his forces, and started a slaughter. Vit had scrambled away from a path of a rusted hulk that charged his drones with a hunk of metal as a maul. It had soaked weapon fire like it was merely rain, roaring " _You cannot kill death!"_ into Vit's face as he scurried away for his life.

As Vit was forced to call a retreat for his men while the androids held the intruders, he witnessed a sight that would forever haunt his dreams. Children butchering men and machine alike, tearing grown soldiers apart limb from limb. Children roaring in hate and joy as they unleashed death, screaming, laughing. Children brandishing weapons and bloodying them into victims, like some utterly sick parody of playing boys. It was the single most horrifying sight Vit had ever seen.

Only couple of Vit's Fire Warriors made it out alive with him, and they made their way towards the upper sections of _Aegis,_ locking down couple of security doors behind them as they went. Vit scrambled for his comms unit. He needed to inform the Lieutenant Colonel.

"This is Captain Cerolean, calling _Aegis_ command!" Vit spoke into his comm phone. "Captain Cerolean, calling _Aegis_ command."

"This is Command, Lieutenant Colonel Schwartz listening," Came the reply.

* * *

Dunstan held the layout map of _Aegis_ in his hand that they had acquired from one of the rooms. Based on the map and the information extracted from an enemy soldier, they had exited the Warp portal on the 11th level of the station. As soons as they knew were they were, they had been able highlight their objectives and move out.

They had already made enemy contact multiple times, and after the most recent encounter, Devourer squad had been let loose into the station to cause havoc so that the others could focus on their mission.

The squad of Azuhrius and his lackeys had departed for the armory on the 10th level. Nox and Cerin were gods knew where. Fionn and Tsagaan were holding out on level 12 with the machine, waiting for their turn.

And Dunstan, Smurfus, Rustus, Maroos and Vermilion were heading for the docking ring of 13th level, where their main objective was floating beside _Aegis_ station, connected with a docking bridge.

"Understood," Lieutenant Colonel Schwartz spoke after hearing out Captain Carolean's report of the situation. He walked around with agitated but firm steps, trying to process the information and from a plan of action. He looked at a tactical layout map of the station, rubbing his chin with sweaty hands. "For now… head for the primary travel stairs of level 19. There are two squads holding that position. Meet up with them, hold the position and keep enemy from moving to the upper levels. Wait for further orders."

* * *

"Understood, Lieutenant Colonel. Carolean out."

Schwartz nodded to himself, feeling a sweat drop fall down his scalp. This was more than a creature of Grimm on board the station. This was an intentional attack. Nothing like this had ever happened before. No foe had ever set foot on Aegis or its sister station. There were only theoretical tactical plans about defending against an enemy that had already managed to board the station. Why would there be, they were living an era of peace?

But Schwartz was a soldier. And as the soldier in command, it was his responsibility, his duty to adapt to and deal with the threat that had risen against him. All Atlesian personnel on the station, all those lives, were looking for him to guide them, and he would damn well give his all.

"Contact the first platoon's Alpha squad, I want to speak to them." Schwartz ordered, and the communication officer opened the channel. "This is Command. Alpha squad report."

"This is Alpha squad. We are almost done locking down the secondary stairs of level 20. Estimated time for completion of the objective, four minutes."

"Good. Carry on." Schwartz replied and link was cut. The command center was on level 24. The enemy had been sighted in the docking area, levels 16 and 17, as well as further bellow on level 11. Schwartz had started guiding his troops to levels 19 and 9, with the intention of holding those positions and trapping the enemy in the middle floors. Battle androids were being activated from the storages of both the top and bottom part of _Aegis._ When the enemy was contained, they would start counter attacking them, pushing from both above and below. There were thousands of drones on board Aegis, more of them online by the minute. The enemy could not possibly beat them in numbers.

"Contact the first platoon's Bravo squad," Schwartz said. The squad was in charge of securing and locking down floor 21. "This is Command. Bravo squad report."

There was no reply.

"This is Command. Bravo squad, please respond!"

This time there was sound from the other end of the comm link. Schwartz could hear faint whimpering.

"Bravo squad, this is Lieutenant Colonel Schwartz, do you hear me?"

"Yes… I- I hear you…" came a pitiful sounding response from someone who seemed to be in peril.

"Soldier, talk to me. What is your status?"

There was a short pause. "They… they killed them. They killed my squad. And then they… mutilated them…" There was crying from the channel. "They killed them... all."

"Who killed them!? Speak to me soldier, what happened? Who did that?"

"They… I don't know, I did not see them." There was another whimper, and ruffle like the comms phone was moved around on the other end. "They say… they have a message for you…"

"Who is they?" Schwarts demanded. "Are they there? Are they with you?"

"Yes… they… speak to me behind my back..."

"Soldier, are they... behind you?"

"Yes… they are right behind me…" There was a pained moan from the soldier. "They… have a message for… you."

"...what is the message?" Schwartz asked.

"The… message… aaaaaaaaaaAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAEEEEHH!" The comm like was suddenly filled with a long, freezing scream from the soldier. It stretched on, echoing around the command center and pulling everyone's attention. And then there was sickening snap in the other end of the call, and the scream was instantly silenced.

Schwartz looked at the control panel with a horrified expression, allowing the command center to fall in silence but for the faintest static from the open comm line. Then another voice spoke across the transmission, sending a chill down his spine.

" _We have come for you…"_

* * *

 **Leave review if you feel like it and have a nice day.**


	50. Chapter 49

**If I had got this chapter done a day earlier, I would have made an April Fools joke to spook you out. Unfortunately I was too late. Oh the missed opportunities! Perhaps next year.**

* * *

 **Chaos is the Prize Chapter 49**

 **" _A fine line separates a fighter from a warrior, one is motivated by reason, the other by purpose. One fights to live while the other lives to fight"_**

 **-Stephen C. Hogan**

 **" _Warriors do not lower themselves to the standards of other people; they live independently according to their own standards and code of honor."_**

 **-Bohdi Sanders**

The area where the docking bride extended to connect with the Atlesian cruiser floating by _Aegis_ was not quite as empty as Dunstan would have liked. As soon as he and the others of his squad entered the vast area, they came under fire from the Atlesian forces.

Dunstan hurled himself into a leaping roll, taking cover behind a large storage crate as the blue flashes of weapon fire rained past him.

Smurfus took cover as well, sliding himself right beside Dunstan. He took a careful peak over the crate and then lowered himself back to cover. "Only couple of Atlesian soldiers, mostly drones. Maybe 60 or so androids."

"They were ready for us, they have really good positions and lines of fire. The large space gives them an advantage," Dunstan replied, peeking around the corner of the create to make sure the drones were not trying push and flank their cover. They would try to do it sooner or later. The Legionnaires needed to move. "Is the docking bridge clear?" he called out to the Venatores taking cover at the other end of the long storage crate.

"There are couple of drones in front of the brige, but the bridge itself is empty", Maroos replied as he peaked around his corner.

"We need to start returning fire or engage them in melee," Smurfus said. "They will shoot us where we are sitting if we stay here."

"Agreed, swift action," Dunstan said. He moved from the corner of the crate, allowing Smurfus to take his place. The Ultramarine leveled his machine gun axe as much as he dared, starting to fire around the corner.

Dunstan crouched as he moved to the other end of the crate, taking a peek past Maroos by the other corner. He saw the half transparent expanding bridge that lead to the Atlesian cruiser docked at the end of it. "Okay, my suggestion is this. You guys engage them and pull their attention for a moment. I will sprint to the bridge and move to the ship, and begin clearing it. We need to secure it before the Atlesian reinforcements start pouring in."

"As good of a plan as any," Maroos said.

"Just get moving already!" Vermilion cried, flinching a bit as a blue pulse shot impacted the top of the crate, sending sparks over him. "I don't care what plan we have, but let's just get going already."

"We have a theoretical, let's start executing the practical," Smurfus said. "Rustus, as soon as you are ready!"

Rustus grunted in acknowledgement and moved to the edge of the crate. Then he pushed past Smurfus and ran into the open. Dunstan gave the hulking pile of rust two seconds head start, allowing all the drones to register him as a target. Then he jumped from the other end of the cover and started sprinting towards the bridge.

Dunstan saw Rustus across the empty center of the room, charging through weapon fire as an unstoppable battering ram. Behind him Dunstan heard Smurfus' machine start starting to fire in full auto, laying down covering fire. Only few of the drones were firing at Dunstan anymore. He took the direct route to the bridge, running as fast as he could. Despite his Aura enhanced speed, some shots still impacted him, deflected by his soul's protective field. The Aura loss was superficial.

Dunstan reached the start of the bridge, and he jumped into the air to cross over a makeshift canister barricade. He spun around, cutting in half both of the androids blocking his path in a single wide slash from his sword. He rolled past the falling mechanical frames, not breaking his momentum. He entered the wide tube like bridge extending from the station, rushing ahead in the transparent corridor towards the Atlesian cruiser's docking port.

There was no good angle for the Atlesian killing machines into the tube, and so he was allowed to make his journey off the station and on board the cruiser unhindered by weapon fire.

The door at the end of the corridor was closed but unlocked, and Dunstan hurriedly grabbed the lever of the opening mechanism and pulled it to open the doors. He pushed in, leaving the door open behind him.

He looked around the interior of the ship, trying to wrap him mind around the probable layout. He needed to move fast. He needed to eliminate all the possible drones on board and then he needed to find all the Atlesian personnel who might might have knowledge on how to operate the ship.

Dunstan moved on, making his way through the inside of the airship. He encountered no resistance, the ship seemed to be mostly empty, which was good for him. It was only when he reached the door to the bride that he found two drones guarding the door.

The androids raised their guns, but Dunstan was much faster and shot off their heads with two precise shot from his wrist bolter. He moved to the door, and and unlocked it.

There were people on the bridge. Over a dozen men and women in Atlesian uniforms, two of them Fire Warriors clutching pulse carbines. The Legionnaires needed some of the ship crew, not any of the line soldiers. Dunstan pushed downwards, his black blade cleaving the head off the first Fire Warrior before the man could fire his gun. He turned to the second, who dropped his weapon and raised his hands up in surrender.

Dunstan moved towards the man, black and sharp Unforgiving raised in his hand. The man had surrendered and was trying gurlge something. "No, please," he said as Dunstan closed the distance, pleading for his life. But Dunstan was an angel of death, not an angel of mercy, and he rammed Unforgiven through the man's stomach, wrenching upwards to wreak havoc into the internal organs. He flicked the man off his blade, casting the body aside.

Dunstan turned onto the rest of the Atlesians. Many of them had their hands up in similar way to the dead soldier, and some of them were whimpering. One was wiping off blood that had splattered on her when Dunstan had decapitated the first fire warrior.

"On your knees!" Dunstan barked, flicking blood off his sword in a threatening move.

The Atlesians hit the deck, many of them covering their heads with their hands. Some of them were still whimpering and pleading.

"Be silent!" Dunstan said, his eyes scanning the people before him. "Anyone who wants to live will obey everything I say! Anyone with a communicator or a weapon of any kind, toss them to the front of the bridge! Anyone who attempts anything else dies."

Dunstan pulled up his scroll, keeping his eyes on the prisoners hurrying to obey him. He activated the scroll, connecting with the local channel of the Venatores. He needed to tell everyone he had secured their primary objective.

* * *

"Fionn, get that door open!" came the startled voice of Tsagaan from behind the corner.

"I am working on it." Fionn shot back as both his metallic and flesh arm tinkered with the lock console of a closed bulkhead. "Why would they use holographic locks…" he growled.

After breaking the coding had proven futile, Fionn had been trying to break the locking by manipulating with the wiring, but so far he had encountered little success. The sounds of Atlesian weapons fire, crashes of metal and the very angry hisses of a King Tajitu not too far away from him beyond the corner was somewhat distracting.

"Maybe you should check under the rug for a key?" Tsagaan's increasingly desperate voice shouted.

"They don't have rugs in here," Fionn pointed out.

"How barbaric!"

There was an ear paining sound of something metallic getting thrown across a corridor, and Fionn saw something vague fly across the corridor intersection behind him.

"Fionn!" Tsagaan cried again. "They are pushing that snake this way! It is trying to crush me!"

"Do tolerate it and keep it back," Fionn yelled as he linked a rewired part of the console, causing some sparks to fly but little else.

"FIOOOON!" Tsagaan continued to vocally whine. "They are coming to kill us!"

"Well kill them back" Fionn offered an advice.

"FIOOOON! They are starting to shoot at me and the snake is trying to eat me!"

"You have a sword. Use it."

There was a very angry reptilian hissing, and soon Tsagaan came rushing around the corner. He ran to Fionn, taking cover behind the machine they had teleported on to the station with.

"Well, I slashed one of its eyes out, but it had 3 more," Tsagaan said as he looked behind where he had come from. "It is not going to be tying up those Atlesian androids much longer, not with the amount of firepower they are pouring on it. But it just might manage to kill us if you don't get that door open!"

Fionn did not say anything. He tossed away the wires he had been holding in his hand and pulled back his mechanical fist. Then he rammed his fist into the opened machinery of the console, pulverising half of it.

The door let out a hiss and metallic snarls, but it did finally unlock enough for Fionn to push his hands in between and heave the bulkhead open.

"Let's grab the device and go go go go!" Tsagaan said as he tossed himself against the bulky machine and started to push it through the opening.

Fionn lended him an iron hand and soon they were on the other side of the bulkhead. Fionn poked the locking mechanism on the other side with one of his taser javelins, causing the door to jam if not completely close.

"The Atlesian are starting their counter attack," Fionn said as he continued to listen to the sounds of battle coming from beyond the door.

"You think?!" Tsagaan said as he pulled forth his scroll. "The guys on the docking level better have secured a way for us, we have to head there now or the Atlesians are going to overrun us."

* * *

Zilar had and his men had secured one of the control centers near the part of the station they had landed, couple of floors down. They probably could have pushed further without encountering heavy Atlesian resistance, but apparently there was not need. They only needed to secure a computing port with an access to the Atlesian battle network, or so the cocky scientist with the stupid mustaches had instructed.

The parasol girl had made her way to one of the computers, and produced some kind of bulky box she had connected with the Atlesian machine. Zilar was not sure what was going on, only signs that anything was happening was a picture of black chess piece that blinked on the main screen.

"How much longer?" Zilar asked impatiently, eyeing his wrist watch.

The parasol girl glanced at him, but just smiled and waved her hand. Zilar had no idea what that meant. They had taken the Atlesians by surprise, and that King Tajitu they had carried on board was sure the keep them busy for a while longer, but it was only matter of time before the Atlesian killer tin cans slew the creature of Grimm. And after that they would be coming for the White Fang strike team.

Zilar narrowed his eyes at the blinking queen chess piece. He sure would have liked for there to be some kind of clear loading bar or a countdown time timer like in movies. The buzzsaw weapon of Zilar circled with his agitation. If it was going to take much longer, they might have to fight way more on the way out than when they had come in.

* * *

 ** _She_** _was here._

Orchid crouched behind a corner of a dead end corridor, using his Dark Prince blessed senses to keep track of the White Fang grunts in a room couple of corridors and intersections away. He could hear their steps as they walked around nervously, he could hear them murmuring to one another as they held guard. Orchid could not make out the exact number of them for they did not make enough noise for him to make an accurate estimation. But there were enough of them, some of them almost certainly Aura wielders, so Orchid knew just rushing in as the first option was a bad idea. He was still going to do it though, if a better alternatives did not surface soon.

Orchid was alone, for the "Devourer" squad had broken apart as soon as they had departed with the other squads. Sangur and Flavius had pushed upwards, possibly towards the larger docking center connecting some of the bigger shuttle bays. Slate had dropped behind. They had slaughtered a five man engineer group of the Atlesians they had ran into, and Slate had stayed with the torn bodies. Maybe he had gotten hungry. Orchid had no idea where Grollo had disappeared, he had not cared to keep track of where the Wolf headed.

So now Orchid was alone, and unable to have his reunion with the silent girl that the Faunus scum were guarding. Orchid had not yet seen her, but he could sense her. He had recognised her presence immediately as he got close enough. He could distinguish the peculiars sounds made by her heels He could hear the sound of her parasol tapping. He could smell her body odor that he could not forget. Soon he would be able to see her, and they would continue what they had started in the night of Vale.

He could not believe his fortune when he had realized she was on board the station. It seems she had come with the White Fang strike force for whatever reason. Maybe this was a fateful encounter. Orchid murmured a thankful prayer to the Prince of Pleasure in case this was boon from him. Yes, yes, this was just perfect. He had been gifted an unexpected but welcome chance to face her again, and he sure was not going to let it go to waste. As soon as he figured how to deal with the White Fang thugs who were so rudely standing between them, he would act. She would be his.

There was a silent beep from Orchid's scroll, and he grabbed it with his free hand as his right hand used his sword to cut faint cuts into his own flesh. "Yes, what is it?" Orchid snarled into the device.

"Orchid, we are about to reach the middle floor armories. Azuhrius told me to contact you. Where are you?" came the voice of Kaltrina.

Orchid considered not responding, but replied anyway. "I am on 15th floor, keeping track of that White Fang assault force that was supposed to be our distraction. They are holding a room near my location, staying put and doing Gods know what. It is really quiet here, no signs of the Atlesians."

There was silence for a moment, Kaltrina consulting with Azuhrius or Ceruleon most likely. "Understood. We are about to assault the armory, and after that we are going to head for one of the turret control centers," Came the eventual reply. "Azuhrius wants you to be ready to start retreating towards the airship when he gives the word."

Orchid hissed. He was not going to retreat, not before he had taken care of his business with the silent girl. He _would_ cross weapons with her again. His warrior soul craved to face her again, to experience the sensation only she brought to him. "I see," Orchid said, not making any promises.

"Azuhrius is sending Mizudori to your floor to meet up with you. What stairs are you closest to?"

"The B stairs," Orchid growled, remembering hazily seeing the letter on the walls of the stairs he had used to get up.

"Got it. Don't move and wait for Mizudori's arrival, there should not be significant enemy forces on the way to where you are. Group up with her. She will make sure you… communicate and head towards the airship when the time comes. When Mizudori gets there, we will take a look at the situation and see if we can use the White Fang to draw the fire of the Atlesians."

"If you get her shot, I will rip your eyes and tongue out..." Orchid snarled. He closed the call and spat on the floor. Azuhrius was sending one of his little puppets to keep and eye on him. Orchid did not need such a thing, he was capable of taking care of himself. The Atlesians were slow, he had plenty of time he told himself. He would be heading for the escape point when he was done with his business. Nothing would stand in the way of him and the girl.

* * *

 **Next chapter is the 50th chapter of this story, if we on't count the omake. So much told, so much to tell.**

 **Also, Lord Caedus recently uploaded a new Kiarana Shrike tribute video to Youtube. The song was chosen by me, and it is what I would consider the theme song of Shrike. After V2.5 is done, I will update the Dramatis Personae in my profile to include the theme songs of all the Venatores.**

 **Leave review if you feel like it and have a nice day.**


	51. Chapter 50

**Oh, look at that. We have reached Chapter 50 (!) of this story. Hoooly dip, that is a lot of chapters. I guess it is safe to say we are probably over half point of this story. Still plenty left to tell.**

* * *

 **Chaos is the Prize Chapter 50**

 **" _If you find yourself in a fair fight, your tactics suck."_**

 **-John Steinbeck**

 **" _Every son quotes his father, in words and in deeds."_**

 **-Terri Guillemets**

The lock of the weapon storage fell onto the floor in broken pieces, and in the next moment, Azuhrius was already in. He quickly scanned the small space lined with Atlesian infantry weaponry before he moved to allow the others in.

"Stock up, girls," Ceruleon said as he stepped in after Azuhrius, followed by Kaltrina and the rest of the Hydra Operatives.

"2 minutes!" Azuhrius said as he walked past a row of pulse carbines lined against the wall, and as soon as he moved past them, Kimidori started loading the weapons into her large bag. Vi was busy filling her bags with ammo and clips, and Kaltrina broke into a small locker containing attachments and maintenance tools. He stopped before a shelf holding multiple pulse pistols.

"There are no explosives here," Ceruleon said as he looked around. It was understandable, it was a small armory for guns, not for explosives.

"We will make do what we brought with us," Azuhrius replied. He reached out, grabbed one of the pistols, and observed it in his grip. He grabbed one of the already loaded magazines and slid it into the weapon, after which he made a practicing gesture to aim against the wall. He slipped the weapon into his belt and grabbed some more magazines. "One minute!"

"From what I have gathered most of the Atlesian forces are far from us. The Devourers have bought us time nicely," Ceruleon said as he took a new pistol and ammo for himself as well.

"In chess, pawns move first for a reason," Azuhrius replied. He stepped out of the storage vault to where Seryy was on guard and pulled out his scroll, opening the camera picture he had taken from a layout map of the station. Seryy glanced at him as Azuhrius motioned towards the corridor. He could picture well where the Atlesian counter-offensive would be coming. "We are going for the D stairs in 30 seconds. Scout the way and wait for us there."

Seryy nodded and jumped up from where she had been leaning against the wall by their Atlesian prisoner and vanished quickly through the door of the chamber. Azuhrius moved to where she had been and lowered himself by the Atlesian who had been guarding the vault when they had arrived and provided some useful info after that. They could not leave him behind.

"There will be consequences for you and whoever you are serving, White Fang or whoever. This is an act of war against the Kingdom of Atlas!" the man said from where he had been tied to the wall. Azuhrius looked at him after he concluded the corridor outside was safe since nobody was shooting at Seryy.

"War," Azuhrius said. "Is simply Remnant's hygiene..." Then he pulled out his newly acquired pistol and shot the man.

* * *

Orchid could have laughed at his good luck when the Atlesian android squad found the White Fang group. The machines had systematically descended from the upper level and started searching the area. As soon as they spotted the White Fang held room, the air was filled with sounds of gunfire.

The White Fang had good positions and were able to prevent the killer machines from advancing. They were, however, getting ready to retreat in the opposite direction from the Atlesian forces, Orchid could still make that out despite the noise caused by the firefight. Strangely, the loud noises made it easier for him to pick out the movements and yells of the White Fang thugs, not less.

"Battle. What a beautiful music it makes..." Orchid was moving the moment he figured out the way the parasol girl would take. The White Fang force was splitting up, one half was keeping the drones back while the other secured a way out and moved ahead. The parasol girl was with the moving group, Orchid could hear the sounds made by her heels. He was in ready and waiting in an interception position when the White fang group moved through an intersection.

Orchid lunged, and the head of the lead Faunus was cleanly sliced off in the middle of a sprint. Chaos descended as the White Fang scum reacted to the enemy suddenly in their midst. Orchid killed another white and black-uniformed grunt but had to parry when a Faunus Aura user sliced at him with a vicious looking buzzsaw weapon. The Atlesian drones were moving to flank as well, starting to fire when they could, adding to the madness. Orchid took a hit to the head from a random shot of a pulse weapon, causing him to lose his focus for a split second. He lost his way in the combat and just kept slicing anything within his reach, cutting down White Fang members who were trying to avoid him and simultaneously return fire against the androids.

Where was the parasol girl? Orchid could smell her presence even in the thick of combat but he could not get his eyes on. His Aura was straining against blows that kept glancing him in the thick of the mad fight.

Suddenly he could hear the very familiar roar, and next, he realized Grollo was suddenly in the fight as well. Orchid had no idea where the Wolf had come but the bloody work of his axe sure came handy in tying up lesser prey on his way.

 _Where are you?_ Orchid kept desperately looking around, but he could not get his eyes on the parasol girl. The White Fang were realizing their situation and were pushing away from the fight where they were getting hammered, slipping away. Orchid could not let them escape with her.

"Who the hell uses an umbrella as a weapon?!" He suddenly heard Grollo bark, and Orchid's eyes instantly looked in the direction of the voice. He just managed to catch a glimpse of Grollo missing a wide swing with his axe and the parasol girl vaulting over the Wolf and skipping away along the corridor.

"Hands off, I saw her first!" Orchid yelled as he scurried after the parasol.

* * *

The number of killer tin cans they had encountered had been steadily rising as of late. In the last encounter, Sangur had probably lost more Aura then during rest of the attack combined. The Atlesians were starting to wear him down.

"Those… fucking pulse guns… hit really damn hard in overwatch…" Flavius panted.

"Fucking 7th edition…" Sangur snarled. Damn he hated Atlesians, but damn he liked killing them. "Global info networks... Unmanned drones... Fookin laser sights!" Sangur cursed the enemy's technological gimmicks as he stomped on a head of a broken war automaton. "A good old chainaxe never loses reception..."

Sangur could hear more androids coming. He was already standing in the middle of a scrapyard with Flavius, and his axes were hungry for more.

"I think they are coming to kill us," Sangur said as he tried to locate where the noises were coming from. His Nails were singing, filling his head with pain and the glory of battle, but he used this little moment of pause to gather himself.

"So it sounds like," Flavius panted. His Aura was probably in worse condition than Sangur's. His black sword had also suffered some damage. He would probably need another weapon soon if he lived through this day. "Any last words?"

"Blood for the Blood God," Sangur said with a twitching mouth.

Flavius chuckled. "Ha, classic."

Sangur heard the distinctive sound of android legs against a metal floor and turned to look at a corridor starting from his right. He tightened his grip and started moving towards the incoming sounds. He could have waited behind the corridor for the metal heads, but he did not. He rounded the corner, saw his enemy, and charged.

The red mist and the heat of the Nails took him again. He lost track of Flavius as both of them were drawn into different directions by calls of battle, and he pushed onwards alone.

The blue flashes of pulse fire rained against him and ground his Aura, but did little to slow him down. Sangur reached the Atlesian battle machines and started dismantling them one chainaxe strike at a time. His strength was unmatched and lust for violence insatiable. The blessings of the Blood God flowed in his veins, strained in his muscles and hammered in his skull. He was unstoppable.

"8th edition _, fuck yeah!"_

* * *

Lieutenant Colonel Schwarz had finally started to think the Atlesians were starting to turn the situation around. The androids were mobilizing quickly, and after they had managed to form containing strong points above and below the middle floors, they had started the counter-offensive. The counterattack against the invaders had been looking promising, even if there were somewhat heavy android casualties. All in all, it had been looking like the situation was developing into a better direction.

That was when the lights of the command center flickered drastically before going out completely. The computer screens switched to their integrated reserve power batteries seamlessly, and red emergency lighting came to be after a couple of seconds, powered by dust crystals behind the lamps.

"What happened?" Schwarz barked. "Report!"

"Analyzing, just a second sir," an officer replied from his station as he read system messages. "It seems there has been a localized power failure on this floor. Some systems, primarily lighting and computer power, are offline and are working on reserve power where possible. Systems like ventilation, coms and door mechanism are still online. The fault is in hardware, there has been a disruption in the power cablings of this floor."

"Intentional sabotage then?" Schwarz asked.

"Mostly likely sir. The problem is so localized it suggests cutting of powerlines in the superstructure."

"Can we reroute the power?" Schwarz inquired as he wondered how the enemy had managed to cause such a disruption in the higher levels, well above the containment strong points. Floor sweeps after the loss of Beta squad had reported no signs of the enemy, other than the… mutilated remains of said squad. The lack of contact had led him to assume the enemy had retreated to the lower floors. Now he feared the enemy had somehow been hiding in the superstructure.

"Yes sir, already charting alternate power routings. The floors above will suffer from some power failure but this floor and command center will regain full power. I estimate 7 to 10 minutes before that happens."

"Good, keep working on that," Schwarz replied. Those minutes were too long for his taste. Such a local power failure had not been in the theoretical defense plans for _Aegis_ station. After this situation had been resolved fully, Schwarz would personally make sure such a scenario was introduced and drilled. And it would not be the only thing needing looking into when it came to the defenses of aerial stations.

"Alert the squads guarding the command center and get them inside. Request additional reinforcements for the command floor. Tell Captain Oceanos to organize an android sweep of the superstructure three floors above and below."

His orders were confirmed and he took a glance at the door of the command center as it was opened so that the situation update could be conveyed to the Fire Warriors guarding just outside. The Fire Warriors entered the command center. There was no way for them to see in the darkness outside, so it was best to take them inside. The helmets used by the Fire Warriors could be attached with night vision equipment, but night vision did not help in the absolute darkness of a lightless station interior. The corridor outside did not have reserve lighting like the command center, and so Schwarz saw only pure blackness. He did not fear the dark, but the stress of the situation made the sight somewhat unnerving, and he ordered the doors shut again as soon as the Fire Warriors had entered the command center.

* * *

Orchid's sword reached forward in the most artistic slash he could perform, but the parasol brushed Malovelance's tip aside with an equally graceful parry. Orchid let out a short cry of laughter as he spun around to strike again.

He lashed out again. She dodged. He moved on with a bold thrust. She parried with her parasol. She counter-attacked with a measuring strike. He deflected without showing weakness.

So it went on and on, two duelists locked into a violent yet graceful struggle for dominance, both of them evaluating each other's skill and style even as the pace of the confrontation grew slowly in intensity. Neither of them was going for decisive strikes, instead, they carefully scouted their respective prowess even as they warmed up for the moments yet to be reached.

Yes, this was it. This was what Orchid had waited for. The night he had confronted her by the highway had left him thirsting for more, and now he was drinking in every sensation with an insatiable craving.

"I missed you," he said with a pleased tone. "You left so suddenly last time. You gave me a taste and left me wanting for more. Oh, how I have waited for this."

She was giving her all, there was no way she could have stood against Orchid's mastery of the blade if she had not, but there was a feeling Orchid could read from her face and body language. She had gotten into this fight unexpectedly, she had been doing something else, something important. Orchid read her like a book and could sense her wish to leave this fight.

"Why do you want to leave?" Orchid asked with a slightly hurt voice. "Forget about the White Fang animals and whatever you came here for. They don't matter. _This_ matters _._ Our fight matters, _we_ matter Please stop being so unwilling and give yourself to me!"

Orchid executed a complicated attack, and his sword missed her ever so slightly. She was so small that she could move inside his reach for shortest of moments to dodge, and so she did so as she flipped herself over Orchid's shoulder, her hair just managing to brush against his cheek. Orchid's mind radiated, and he turned around to unleash a series of wide slashes that chased after her and pushed her to back away.

With a flare and twist of her parasol, she slipped away, landing in a most elegant pose and turned to look at him over the distance that had opened up between them. Orchid pushed his shoulders back and rolled them, tilting his head as he beheld her across the corridor in this moment of pause in a beautiful play. He had just started to move to engage her again when gunshots suddenly echoed in the corridor.

The parasol girl twisted around in a reactionary move, sending herself into a series of evasive moves as bullets rained around her, catching her sometimes and chipping her Aura. She jumped and rolled away before she fled behind a corner.

"NO!" Orchid screamed as he rushed after her. He passed the corner and found her standing there, waiting in a static pose. He knew exactly what would happen even before his sword slashed and broke the illusion into a million pieces of crystal. Orchid screamed in rage as he swept his gaze around in a futile effort to catch a glimpse of her. He was left standing alone by the disintegrating mirror pieces until he head steps behind the corner he had just rounded.

Mizudori came into view, brandishing the autogun that had interrupted Orchid and the parasol girl interrupted their glorious duel. Orchid glared at the Hydra Network operative from the corner of his eye as his posture slackened with disappointment and sadness.

Mizudori scanned the corridor with her gun before turning to Orchid. "I just got a message from Azuhrius. He told that we should seize all aggression and head for the docking deck for escape. We should get going."

Orchid stretched his head backward and looked at the ceiling with denied eyes. "You… you drove her away…" he said with a whine.

"What?" Mizudori asked. "That does not matter. We are to start retreating towards the docking level. We have to hurry, the Atlesian counterattack has already reached this floor."

Orchid did not look at her. "You know…" Orchid said. "I thought I would rip out your tongue…" He turned. "But you can keep the tongue… and let out noise..."

The silvery blade of Malevolence was the last thing Mizudori's eyes saw or came into contact with.

* * *

As soon as the power had been rerouted, sergeant Tali had received orders from the Lieutenant Colonel to open the doors of the command center and return to guard outside. The lights had been brought back on, but as the doors opened, only thing Tali saw beyond was the same pitch black corridor he had seen ten minutes ago. The command' center lights were on, but the rest of the floor seemed as dark as before.

"What is going on? I thought the power was back!" Tali asked as he glanced over his shoulder. The command center crew had noticed it and were busy trying to figure out why the lights were still off while the system reported full power. The answer was given when Tali's squad moved forward in the light spared by the open door of the command center.

"Those bastards," one of his Fire Warriors let out as they moved forward and looked at the ceiling. "They broke the lights while the power was off…"

Tali checked what he could in the sparse lighting and confirmed it. He checked the other lights on the ceiling nearby to be sure. All of them were broken. They had been smashed in completely, destroyed so that they could not perform their function. Whoever had caused the power brake had used the small window when power was out to plunge the whole floor into total darkness.

"Motherfuckers…" A soldier cursed behind Tali. They had reached the first interaction of corridors where the light from the command room just barely reached. On left, right and forward, only pure darkness could be seen.

Tali's head started to crawl with dread. The enemy had completely shut down their ability to operate on the floor until they could get a light source from somewhere. Even the androids could not operate in complete darkness. Some other squad would have to bring flares or something from the strorrage floors. Until that happened, Tali had to keep the command center in guarded and on lockdown.

"I can't see anything," one of his men said as he peered into the blackness of the right corridor. "Total darkness. We would not see anything even if they were looking at us from right there."

" _We are..."_ the darkness replied just before Talis' head was cut off by sharp talons.

* * *

 _ **Night Lords Night Lords, whatcha gonna do, whatcha gonna do when they come for you~**_

 **For the record, I am not in favor of the 8th edition, Sangur just likes that the current Berzerker rules are fucking scary.**

 **Leave a review if you feel like it and have a nice day.**


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